"Astonishingly High" Levels Of Methane In Gulf Near Spill - Nearly 1 Million Times Normal Amounts

[hatrack]

June 22 (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.

Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc (BP.L) oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high." Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead. "There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.

In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal. "We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations" in some areas, Kessler said.

The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life. "At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is," he told the briefing.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2221822720100622

[valerief]

1. OMG, it's gonna blow. Crap. nt

[Kber]

2. Also a huge green house gas

[daninthemoon]

3. methane is also a potent greenhouse gas. it was a prime player

in the permian extinction. it remains frozen under the sea until water temp or oil drillers release it. once in the atmosphere, it greatly accelerates global warming.

[aquart]

4. Asking again, is it possible to artificially aerate oxygen-depleted waters?

Is it possible to neutralize methane? (Chemistry and I never got along so I have to ask about anything concerned with it.)

[phantom power]

6. I'm dubious we could do it at the depths (and scale) required.

Also, when you aerate, you create a column of water convecting to the surface. That will have its own impacts, although it might be possible to argue that by this point it wouldn't fuck things up any worse than we are already.

[dgibby]

5. That would explain why sharks, mammals, fish moving toward shore.

They're looking for oxygen.

[phantom power]

7. methane. it's oxidizing, which (a) depletes oxygen and (b) creates CO2 --> carbonic acid in water.

So I predict we should be seeing not only oxygen-depleted zones, but those same zones ought to be acidic too.

:woohoo:

[aquart]

15. Which is what killed that baby dolphin?

Do you really think that ridiculous Woo Hoo is appropriate here?

[FedUpWithIt All]

8. Damn...

:wow:

Looks like we have finally done it.

[1955doubledie]

12. I always thought humans would destroy the earth with nukes

Never thought it would end this way, though.

[tom_paine]

14. Cue Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes"

"God Damn you all to Hell!"

Amen.

[XemaSab]

9. You know, for the number of years that environmentalists were all like XOMG WERE ALL GONNA DIE

it's a little bittersweet to be proven right for once.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

10. What do we have?

What do we have?

1. Green house gas
   
2. Potential fire storm
   
3. Asphyxiant
   
4. All of the above
   
5. Some of the above
   
6. None of the above -- yeah sure.
   

[LaurenG]

11. This scares me badly

not that the oil gusher hasn't but this is very bad.

[JohnWxy]

13. NOte to Callilf Air Resources Board. "Ignore THIS"