Where Did the 200,000 Tons of Methane Go Released in Gulf?
Mother Earth Heals Itself
Mother Nature Mopped Up[ After Spill
Bacteria Swiftly Devoured Methane
The research study (Texas A&M) of the 200,000 tons of methane gas spewed into the Gulf of Mexico by the Deep-water Horizon Gusher is gone.
The huge plume of methane burped up from deep inside of the earth was gone!
John Kessler oceanographer for Texas A&M reports in Science and reported in today's’ (01/07/2011) Wall Street Journal that a huge swarm of methane gas-gobbling bacteria swelled to consume nearly all of the 200,000 tons of methane dumped into the gulf.
The federally funded field study offers peer-reviewed evidence that naturally occurring microbes in the Gulf of Mexico devoured significant amounts of the toxic chemicals in oil and methane gas that came from the blowout. This occurred, notwithstanding the belief that researchers had thought the pollution would persist in the region’s water chemistry for years.
Samples were taken from over 200 different locations over 38,000 square miles of the Gulf between August and October 2010.
Oil and Gas Consumed
The methane gas is only one element of the spill. The crude oil settled on the seafloor as sludge within one mile from the damaged wellhead, or floated to the surface. The federal government reported there is no significant oil from the spill left offshore and no evidence of chemical dispersants in the water.
The report stirred disbelief among several microbiologist. University of Georgia microbiologist, Samantha Joye said, “It would take a superman microbe to do what they are claiming.” Robert Haddad, head of the damage-assessment effort at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, “The data they’ve collected on the methane plume is consistent with what we have seen.”
Global Warming Danger Decreased
Most of the methane gas never reached the surface per early test by researcher at Texas A&M. Kessler said he was “Shocked, …we thought the methane would be around for years.” The bacteria appeared to remove 100 million tons of oxygen, as noted the Wall Street Journal article.
Antje Boetius, a geo-microbiologist expert from the Max Planck institute for Marine Biology in Bremen, Germany said, “This is very compelling evidence that the methane had been consumed.
This has implications of what some people fear: Global Warming. The ability of the ocean microbes to absorb such large releases of methane gas so rapidly, changes what scientists had feared if global warming occurs and massive amount of frozen methane crystals from the bottoms of the ocean were released.
Ocean Can Compensate – Heals Itself
Methane is a greenhouse gas 24 times more potent than carbon dioxide. “It now appears that even with massive releases of methane, the ocean can compensate,” says microbiologist Terry Hazen at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Related Topics of Interest:
http://hubpages.com/hub/BP-Oil-Dangerous-Dispergant-Used-In-Ocean
http://hubpages.com/hub/Days-of-Remembering-Why-Are-They-good-For-You
