EcoAlert: "Could The Gulf Oil Spill Trigger A Cataclysmic Global Methane Bubble?"

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Jul 13, 2010, 7:39:18 PM7/13/10

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EcoAlert: "Could The Gulf Oil Spill Trigger A Cataclysmic Global Methane Bubble?"
Current analysis of methane levels in water collected from seven miles to 500 meters from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead show concentrations at some points to be a million times higher than normal John Kessler, a renowned chemical oceanographer in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University "Methane levels ranged from 10,000 to nearly 1 million times higher in some spots than normal concentration," Kessler said.The 10-day reserach cruise, which was funded by a National Science Foundation Rapid Response grant, returned June 21 with nearly 1 million data points gathered. Ramifications are multifold, Kessler said. He called the site a natural laboratory in which to better assess the effect of methane on global climate change. Naturally occurring methane seeps have been linked to rapid climate change. For instance, an event occurring 55 million years ago may have caused one of these spikes, scientists believe. This event, the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM), lasted about 100,000 years. Large undersea methane caused explosions and mass extinctions. So the Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster may, at least, help scientists better understand and perhaps predict methane effects on global temperatures.