UC Santa Barbara Scientist Proposes Novel Method to Quantify Gulf Oil Spill

[G_j]

Source: Ascribe

Mon May 24 09:50:45 2010 Pacific Time
UC Santa Barbara Scientist Proposes Novel Method to Quantify Gulf Oil Spill

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- While the world has reacted with shock and anger to the massive amounts of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon platform blowout, a UC Santa Barbara scientist has proposed that methane gas dissolved into the waters of the Gulf holds the key to calculating the magnitude of the spill.

David Valentine, a professor of earth science at UCSB and the author of several authoritative studies about the behavior of oil and methane in the ocean, was asked by editors of the journal Nature to write an essay for its Opinion section about how to determine the magnitude of the spill. Valentine's report was published online by Nature on Sunday and will appear in the May 27 print issue.

In his essay, entitled "Measure Methane to Quantify the Oil Spill," Valentine says that the usual methods of measuring the magnitude of an oil spill are of limited use in the current situation. He suggests an innovative way that might be more effective: quantifying the leaked methane gas now dissolved in the water. Methane is an especially potent greenhouse gas and has been the focus of numerous studies in past decades, but has never been considered as a means for determining the magnitude of a deep oil spill.

Methane constitutes approximately 40 percent of the leakage at the sea floor. This compound has been implicated in causing the initial blowout, and was also the reason the initial containment dome failed. Valentine suggests capitalizing on the high methane content of the oil to determine total oil release. "Unlike oil, methane dissolves uniformly in water and can be tracked down-current from the leak source," Valentine says. "If we can add up all the methane, we've got a reasonable estimate on the oil spilled."

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"In what is likely to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history," Valentine says, "the need for a more accurate way to estimate the spill's magnitude is clear. This number is not only useful for comparing spills, but also for tracking dispersed oil, assessing the efficacy of containment measures, and for assessing liability."

Read more: http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20100524.092833&time=09

[drm604]

1. BP won't like this.

They've been doing their best to hide the magnitude of the spill.

[Mark D.]

9. I'm Glad

The world has reacted with anger at the destruction caused. It's akin to me sitting angry in a burning house at the kid that was playing with matches, vs. kicking down the front door and running out of it with the kid under my arm. This is a world emergency. If enough of the media can go beyond blame this or that, or pointing out defects in our government's response, it would help. This spill will affect them one way or the other. US economic crisis caused by a destroyed Gulf, or oil hitting their own beaches in 6 months. They need to get involved. Shame on the mass media not ONCE pointing out that, while we don't know how to stop it, the world working together could find that answer sooner. That means corporations, from Royal Dutch Shell to GE, getting involved too. This will affect their future too, and every day it goes on, it will affect them more. I have been sending letters to the media on this, but I can't do it alone. The message: This is a world emergency.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Someone get this man his water samples STAT!!

[KurtNYC]

3. Go Gaucho Gold!

(it's a UCSB thing).

That dude deserves a burrito from Freebird in IV!

[tabatha]

8. UCSB staff keep doing these innovative things.

[yodermon]

4. This paper guarantees that this will NOT happen. n/t

[joanmj]

5. Once we can know the size of the spill....

you'll see as much anger.:mad:

[marions ghost]

6. Makes sense

but sensible is not in charge...

[joanmj]

7. Day 35.....

:grr: