Testing Near Deepwater Horizon Site Finds Atmospheric Methane @ 100X Normal Levels

ST. PETERSBURG — Two years before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, scientists from SRI International took readings on the levels of methane in the Gulf of Mexico less than 10 miles from the rig. Last year, they went back and did it again. Now, after the rig blew up and gushed oil for more than 80 days, SRI's scientists from St. Petersburg have returned to the same area just northwest of the disaster and taken fresh readings.

They found levels of methane — a particularly potent greenhouse gas — are now 100 times higher than normal, SRI scientists said. They can't say for sure it's from BP, said SRI director Larry Langebrake, but "it is a sign that says there are things going on here that need to be researched."

Higher levels of methane can cause problems both in the gulf and around the globe. Seeps in the ocean floor put small amounts of methane into the water, where it's consumed by naturally occurring microbes. Higher concentrations of methane can cause the microbe population to boom, gobbling up oxygen needed by other marine life and producing dead zones in the gulf.

The other problem, said Langebrake: "Methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide." In fact, it's 20 times worse than carbon dioxide, trapping lots more heat close to the earth, contributing to climate change. And it can hang around in the atmosphere for up to 15 years. In addition to the increased amount of methane, the SRI tests "did show indications that the methane was further up in the water column than we had seen it before," said Carol Lutken of the University of Mississippi, which is part of a consortium with SRI that has been doing the tests.

EDIT

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/scientists-from-st-petersburg-find-high-methane-readings-near-oil-disaster/1110095

you know how we thought it would be the methane released from the permafrost that would be the kicker....?


ya, and here we are.
didn't they know before they drilled what they were tapping into? didn't they use sonar to locate the oil ...wouldn;t they have seen the huge methane pocket?

oh, that's right...they didn't care.

:banghead:

BP, Transocean & Halliburton f*cked up.
No-one is denying this.

Pointless, fact-free blather like this really doesn't help though ...

> didn't they know before they drilled what they were tapping into?

You're right! All evil multinational fossil fuel companies simply
park their rigs at a random point in the ocean and send down a few miles
of pipe just on the offchance that they'll find something worthwhile
down there ...


> didn't they use sonar to locate the oil ...

Sonar doesn't work too well underground.
Maybe you meant seismic surveys? (in which case the answer is "Yes,
of course they used seismic surveys" as the alternative is the above
mega-expensive game of "pin the tail on the donkey").


> wouldn;t they have seen the huge methane pocket?

There wasn't a huge balloon filled with methane that they accidentally
popped with their couple of miles of drilling pipe.


> oh, that's right...they didn't care.

No, "of course they didn't" and neither do you or you would have learned
something about the situation before sounding off.

:eyes:


If you wanted to post something relevant to the subject, maybe consider
the rigs elsewhere off the US shore (and other parts of the world) where
they are deliberately drilling into seabed methane hydrates with the
intention of "mining" them - regardless of the risks involved (both from
the instability of said hydrates and the obvious end result of burning
even more fossil fuel).