Fiery Pit in Turkmenistan Dubbed ‘Gateway to Hell’ Has Been Spewing Methane for 50 Years

The Darvaza gas crater, also dubbed Turkmenistan's "Gateway to Hell," has received intense environmental backlash. It turned out that it has been spewing methane for about 50 years, contributing to climate change.

Gateway to Hell Spewing Methane

The Gateway to Hell has been making the Earth warmer. According to a new report, it has released methane into the atmosphere in the last five decades, contributing to global warming.

Stefan Green, director of the Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility at Chicago's Rush University, who has investigated the biology of the crater, told Newsweek that the crater was allegedly created during the Soviet era when the Soviets attempted to drill for natural gas in the area. Drilling equipment wasn't as advanced then, so the drill rig collapsed, and the natural gas began leaking into the atmosphere rather than being trapped.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, methane, often known as natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas that, over its first 20 years in the atmosphere, warms the planet 80 times more than carbon dioxide.

The crater was then lit on fire, though it was unclear if this was done on purpose. If deliberate, Green continued, the objective was to have the gas burn out rather than leak unauthorizedly.

Turkmenistan has 6.3 million residents, which is fewer than New York City. Nevertheless, the nation ranks among the top producers of methane in the world. According to Our World In Data, most of this is caused by "fugitive emissions" from the oil and gas industry, which total about 70 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents annually.

Turkmenistan has a sizable amount of natural gas reserves, according to Green. From the standpoint of global climate change, whatever we can do to aid in stopping these uncontrolled releases of greenhouse gases is vitally critical. The country significantly contributes to methane emissions from large leaks; the Darvaza crater is one example.

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How to Stop Methane Leak From the Gateway Hell?

The president of Turkmenistan gave officials the task of finding a solution to put out the infamous flames and collect the emitted methane in 2022.

According to Green, the uncontrolled discharge of natural gas is bad for the environment; nevertheless, the fact that it is burning is beneficial. Methane is changed into carbon dioxide in this manner. Although less harmful than methane for global warming, CO2 release is nonetheless detrimental.

One notion that has gained traction is to fill in the crater. Green, though, opined that this was unlikely to resolve the issue.

Fundamentally, Green claimed, there is a big gas leak. Filling the crater won't help because gas will still leak unless you can stop the flow, and he doesn't believe the leak will be stopped by simply filling the crater. He strongly recommends finding a mechanism to stop the gas release from this spot to stop the burning of the crater.

Additionally, focusing on filling the crater may draw attention away from the country's primary source of emissions. Green says these craters are just a small part of the bigger picture. The main natural gas leakage of methane from Turkmenistan's gas resources is a major issue that needs to be tackled.