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