Spill's extent and the effects surprising those studying it

[G_j]

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070710/new_666367227.shtml

Spill's extent and the effects surprising those studying it

By Lee Shearer - [email protected]

Published Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Buzz up!

Scientists knew weeks ago that much of the oil gushing from a blown-out oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico remained below the surface, suspended in deep, cold water.

But research they are doing now has surprised them at the extent of the spill and effects on marine life, University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye said Tuesday in UGA's Marine Sciences Building. Joye, one of the leading scientists tracking the spill, spoke at a weekly update on her research team's findings.

Seawater samples the team took during a June research voyage had to be diluted before analytical machines could accurately measure the oil levels in them, she said Tuesday.

Other scientists analyzing the samples still haven't told Joye the precise concentrations of oil they've found in the water. But they've seen enough to know the levels are much higher than what was found in an earlier research cruise in May, when they measured oil contamination in parts per million or parts per billion in areas close to the spill.

The more recent water samples, many taken hundreds of feet deep in the Gulf,

<snip>

Joye's earlier research on the spill has focused on methane and similar gases spewing along with the oil from the broken well a mile deep in the Gulf near the Louisiana coast. Joye's research team measured methane concentrations in some places 100,000 times normal levels.

Much of that methane remains in the deep water, and may be causing "dead zones," where fish and other marine life have a tough time breathing. As methane-eating bacteria multiply and break down the gas, they also use up oxygen in the water.

..more..

[damntexdem]

1. This is a megadisaster that the American public has not begun to understand.

Its effects will go far beyond anything the MSM has conditioned Americans to expect. And this will not just go away. The Gulf, not just the life in it, is being killed; and the effects will be enormous.

[blindpig]

2. k&r

Capitalism is killing the planet

[jpak]

3. This bothers me...

<snip>

And national science leaders have not yet come up with a coordinated research plan to measure the impact of the spill, already the largest in North American history.

Although Joye and other scientists suspect methane could be the biggest threat to Gulf marine life, there is no systematic effort to measure the gas in Gulf waters, she said.

"There's got to be a meeting of the minds," she said. "I don't understand how we're as far into this as we are without a meeting (to coordinate research efforts)."

<snip>

The normal NSF grant proposal review process takes many months to complete.

NSF does not have the staff or the mandate to respond to a rapidly developing environmental disaster of this magnitude - and neither do NOAA or EPA (although they have resources and personnel they could contribute).

The National Academies of Science, however, could organize an ad hoc panel to coordinate research efforts and do so fairly rapidly.

Someone just needs to get them moving....

[GeorgeGist]

7. Where' that asskicker ...

I heard is so bright?

Oh, yeah, I forgot. He's busy writing the next verse of "It could have been Worse".

[Karenina]

13. Here's your ASSKICKER.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=481841&mesg_id=481841

[G_j]

8. that is alarming

us humans are not getting our act together

[Angry Dragon]

4. Feel free to flame me if you wish

I have stated my position on DU many times and I will state it again.

We have a oil gusher spewing unknown amounts of oil and gas.
Last I heard was 120 million gallons of toxic dispersant.
This dispersant is breaking apart the oil so it does not come to the surface.
Probably more oil is below the surface than what you see on top of the water.
Some of this is sinking to the Gulf floor and covering it.
It does not break down as readily because the dispersant clings to it.
Oil is being washed up onto beaches in 5 states.
It is soaking into the beaches and is not being cleaned up to the depth it needs to be.
The under sea oil will go around the tip of Florida and travel some ways up the eastern coast.
Huge amounts of wildlife are being killed. We will never know the extent.
The next two generations, at least, will suffer health problems.
I expect the storms coming through the Gulf will pick up the toxins from the oil and dispersant
and bring them inland, causing health problems and land contamination.
I expect much of the land closest to the water will become inhabitable.
If a very destructive hurricane comes through it would not surprise me if the federal government is slow
in responding in rebuilding because they will balance their response to the devastation the oil may have caused to the region.

This is what I see, I hope I am wrong and I will apologize.

[nashville_brook]

5. no flames here. seems about right.

[Blue Owl]

6. The sickening thought of migrating birds heading south

for what may likely be their last winter.

Oil is so NOT worth it -- may the out-of-control profiteers be damned to the hellish inferno of their own creation.

[obxhead]

9. It's a real shame that we don't have a legitimate MSM to get this

out there.

It's time for Obama to show us some of that transparency he promised.

[G_j]

10. +1000

[walldude]

11. K&R there is a reason BP is keeping reporters away...

They are like a kid who broke their mom's favorite lamp. Watching them scramble to make excuses is like watching a 6 year old...

[Cetacea]

12. K&R