Lake Kivu will not explode anytime soon, says miniRUEDI

Fabian Bärenbold and his coworkers studied the gases in Lake Kivu in East Africa, which is well known for its huge reservoir of CH4 and CO2 dissolved in the deep waters. In view of the ongoing and planned extraction of CH4 for energy production, Fabian Bärenbold and his colleagues used a miniRUEDI and other gas analysis techniques (gas chromatography, laser spectrometery, and a total dissolved gas pressure). The measurement results show good agreement within 5–10%. The CH4 and CO2 dioxide concentrations in Lake Kivu are very similar to earlier results observed during the past few decades, which indicates that the risk for a limnic gas erruption of Lake Kivu has not increased.

Full paper: Fabian Bärenbold, Bertram Boehrer, Roberto Grilli, Ange Mugisha, Wolf von Tümpling, Augusta Umutoni, Martin Schmid. No increasing risk of a limnic eruption at Lake Kivu: Intercomparison study reveals gas concentrations close to steady state. PLOS, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237836