The world scientific community and adventure enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the sensational news from the famous explorer and “tornado hunter” George Kourounis about his return with an expedition to Turkmenistan. His participation in the panel discussion at the TESC 2024 conference to be held on June 5-6 in Ashgabat promises to be one of the highlights of the year.
George Kourounis, a science communicator and broadcaster, became the first person to set foot at the bottom of the fiery Darvaz gas crater in 2013. The expedition, funded by the National Geographic Society (National Geographic Society, USA) and captured by the National Geographic Channel, had grand goals. Kourounis and his team descended into the blazing crater to take soil samples and look for signs of life in these extreme conditions. The expedition was a success: the researchers discovered several species of unusual microorganisms, which was a significant scientific breakthrough and made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
At the upcoming conference, George Kourounis will talk about the future of Darwaza Crater and the changes that have taken place in it over the past nine months. In his speech, he will emphasize the importance of conducting another scientific expedition to all Darvaza craters. The main goal of the new mission will be to collect valuable data on extremophilic microbes before the crater is extinguished.
As it is known from the latest publications in the press, the specialists of the Research Institute of Natural Gas of the State Concern “Turkmengas”, having studied the geological structure of strata of the Zeagli-Dervezin group of fields, the peculiarity of which is the presence of a large number of thin low-power strata, lying at a depth of 200 to 950 meters, interlaced with water-bearing and dense strata, have revealed that the strata and deposits interact with each other and proposed to use the method of drilling a well, which should open all the productive ones
Undoubtedly, it is impossible to stop uncontrolled inter reservoir gas flows instantly, because the filtration rate, i.e. gas movement in porous formations, is very low. However, gas extraction from the well will, firstly, control the filtration flow to such an extent that eventually the entire gas flow will be directed towards the well; secondly, the extracted, rather than burned, gas can be utilized. Forced withdrawal of gas from the new well will manage seepage flows and reduce uncontrolled gas emissions to the atmosphere. It is also proposed that one of the observation wells close to the burning crater be brought into production as one of the measures. With its help it will be possible to carry out intensive gas extraction from the upper productive strata.
The effectiveness of the proposed measures is confirmed by Capterio satellite imagery data, which clearly shows a significant reduction in burning (by more than a factor of 2) between September 2023 and February 2024 (blue bars on the graph), when gas was forcefully withdrawn from nearby wells.
George Kourounis’ presentation at TESC 2024 promises to be an unforgettable event. His return to Turkmenistan and new explorations of the Darvaz crater may lead to new scientific discoveries and emphasize the importance of preserving unique natural sites, given that his first dive to the bottom of the crater took place more than a decade ago.
Unfortunately, George Kourounis will not be able to attend the TESC 2024 conference in person as tornado season begins in the United States at that time. As a leading “tornado and hurricane chaser”, Kourounis is required to stay in the thick of the action, or as George himself puts it, in the “epicenter of the tornado” to personally capture the results of climate change caused by anthropogenic events. Despite this, he will still be speaking online at the conference to share his latest discoveries and talk about upcoming expeditions.
///nCa, 31 May 2024 (in cooperation with the Turkmen Forum, photo credit – official website of George Kourounis http://www.stormchaser.ca/Stormchaser.html )