4um: Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist

Title: Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist
Source: Reuters
URL Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L6IA20100622
Published: Jun 24, 2010
Author: Maggie Fox
Post Date: 2010-06-24 14:47:39 by Original_Intent
Keywords: Oilpocalypse, methane, boom, Death
Views: 154
Comments: 9

(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 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.

Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life.

Kessler said oxygen depletions have not reached a critical level yet, but the oil is still spilling into the Gulf, now at a rate of as much as 60,000 barrels a day, according to U.S. government estimates.

"What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?" he asked.

Methane, a natural gas, dissolves in seawater and some scientists think measuring methane could give a more accurate picture of the extent of the oil spill.

Kessler said his team has taken those measurements, and is hoping to have an estimate soon.

"Give us about a week and we should have some preliminary numbers on that," he said.

For weeks I've been reading stories of the methane gas bubble, or the methane gas bubbles under the waters near, or under the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I, of course, have no idea of the truth of any danger warnings for the area...but they ARE scary. See a video below.

Methane Gas Bubbles Under Gulf Floor?

There seem to be two schools of thought. The most prevalent is that high methane gas levels can deplete the oxygen and kill all the sea life - that's all of the sea life. ATexas AandM University oceanography professor, John Kessler, has measured the methane levels in the spill area, and he says they are very high but have not yet reached a critical level. Two months from now might be a different story, he says:

Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life.

This report out of New Orleans:

At least 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas — and possibly almost twice that amount — have leaked since April 20. That's based on estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey's "flow team" that 2,900 cubic feet of&

"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," said John Kessler, a Texas AandM University oceanographer.

Small microbes that live in the sea have been feeding on the oil and natural gas in the water and are consuming larger quantities of oxygen, which they need to digest food. As they draw more oxygen from the water, it creates two problems. When oxygen levels drop low enough, the breakdown of oil grinds to a halt; and as it is depleted in the water, most life can't be sustained.

The second 'event' being talked about is an explosion of a methane gas bubble near the spill site so large that it ruptures the ocean floor, explodes far above the water surface, causes wide death and destruction, with tsunamis following - not to mention that the existing well-head will be obliterated:

The stretching and compression of the earth's crust causes minor cracking, called faults, and the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has many such fault areas. Fault areas run along the Gulf of Mexico and well inland in Mexico, South and East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the extreme western Florida Panhandle. The close coupling of new fissures and cracks with natural fault areas could prove to be lethal.

A methane bubble this large -- if able to escape from under the ocean floor through fissures, cracks and fault areas -- is likely to cause a gas explosion. With the emerging evidence of fissures, the tacit fear now is this: the methane bubble may rupture the seabed and may then erupt with an explosion within the Gulf of Mexico waters. The bubble is likely to explode upwards propelled by more than 50,000 psi of pressure, bursting through the cracks and fissures of the sea floor, fracturing and rupturing miles of ocean bottom with a single extreme explosion.

Numerous documents on this subject say there is some belief that methane bubbles have been the cause of disappearing ships and airplanes in the Bermuda Triangle. Who knew?

The Daily Mail says a methane gas bubble actually triggered the explosion on the rig:

The Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster was caused by a bubble of methane gas that shot oil 240ft into the air while BP executives were on board celebrating the platform’s safety record.

The highly combustible gas burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP’s internal investigation.

Workers on the Deepwater Horizon exploration rig, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, told investigators that they set a cement seal at the bottom of the well, then attempted to put a second seal below the sea floor.

A chemical reaction caused by the setting cement created heat and a gas bubble which destroyed the seal.

Safety adviser Professor Robert Bea, of the University of California, said: ‘A small bubble becomes a really big bubble, so the expanding bubble becomes like a cannon shooting the gas into your face.’

Up on the rig, the first thing workers noticed was the sea water in the drill column suddenly shooting back at them, rocketing 240ft in the air, he said. Then gas surfaced and flooded into an adjoining room with exposed ignition sources.

‘That’s where the first explosion happened,’ said Professor Bea. ‘Then there was a series of explosions that subsequently ignited the oil that was coming from below.’

The BP executives at the party were injured but survived, according to one account.

A question: If the Gulf Coast area is found to be in danger of an enormous explosion that could kill or maim the people and demolish property in the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, would our Government believe it and evacuate the area? Just asking...

The following video describing the dangers of methane gas bubbles cannot be verified - at least by this blog. I don't know who is doing the talking - it sounds like a radio interview. It may be the biggest hoax in modern history, but it offers food for thought. If you have a comment about the veracity of the information, please share it with me in comments.

Methane Gas Explosions? Bulges in the Ocean Floor (video)

A book I've never finished, and have been working at on and off for the last twenty years, on mass extinctions lists the largest planetary extinction event at the end of the Permian Era. 85% of all living species, both land and sea, went extinct. At least one professor is now putting forth, in the video abraxas posted, that it was likely the result of a planetary scale methane event i.e., a combination of poisoning the oceans and burning the surface. All it takes is a thunderstorm in a methane bubble and KER-BLOOOOOOOOIE! Crispy Critters (and people).

You know, I posted a comment about the risks of a methane explosion a couple of weeks ago, got a bunch of know-it-all comments about how Weak the ignition potential of methane was and how nearly impossible an explosion was.

Even had some formulas included. Shows how Brilliant-in-their-own-minds some on this site are, huh?

I do believe I recall that from the "usual suspects". One of them nowappears MIA after making a complete ass of themself. Oh, darn.