NOAA: Under water oil plumes confirmed

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The government says water tests have confirmed underwater oil plumes as far as 142 miles from the BP oil spill, but that concentrations are "very low."

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenko said that the tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface 42 miles northeast of the well site and also oil below-surface oil 142 miles southeast.

Lubchenko said the analysis "indicate there is definitely oil sub surface. It's in very low concentrations" of 0.5 parts per million.

BP had questioned whether oil actually was forming below water.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h450SSldjIc2H9IswDj7vc-luPogD9G75I1G0

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Killer Undersea Oil Plumes From BP Spill Lurk in Gulf of Mexico


June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Undersea plumes of oil that can kill off marine life have been confirmed stretching for miles in the Gulf of Mexico from BP Plc’s leaking Macondo well, according to findings researchers will announce today.

Water samples collected by the R/V Weatherbird II vessel show biodegraded crude oil in two undersea plumes about 22 miles (35 kilometers) northeast of BP’s seabed leak, according to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of South Florida.

“Very specifically, we can now say there is biodegraded oil in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico,” Vickie Chachere, a spokeswoman for the University, said. She couldn’t confirm how much oil the plumes may contain. Researchers have said the oil slick washing ashore is a small portion of what has leaked and the undersea crude can wipe out marine life while remaining invisible from the surface.

<snip>

‘Huge Volumes’

The oil was found in two layers of the ocean at 400 meters and 1,000 meters. The university’s scientists tracked the plumes for tens of kilometers, starting 35 kilometers north-northeast of the well, Chachere said.

“These are huge volumes of oil, many kilometers of oil, and to have oil in many cubic kilometers of water suggests a very significant total amount,” said Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University in Tallahassee, who is doing separate research on the spill.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-08/killer-undersea-oil-plumes-from-bp-spill-lurk-in-gulf-of-mexico.html

[CountAllVotes]

1. you still want your life back Tony?

you pig! :puke:

:kick: & recommend.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Tony says, "But ..... but .......but ........ I can't see them

so how can they exist??"

[Soylent Brice]

3. okay, so first, there were no underwater plumes, now that there are...

the concentrations are low.

next headline will be:

"Plumes larger than foreseen"

assholes.

[AngryOldDem]

4. Sadly, we all know how it will play out,

I remember just after the explosion they were discounting the chance of any leak, which was complete and total bullshit on its face. This will be no different.

[Soylent Brice]

5. yup. and it will be the same for every other problem discovered. n/t

[wordpix]

9. next headline:"plumes rise to the surface, coat beaches, kill wildlife"

what do you think will happen with this? The plumes will just disintegrate thanks to toxic dispersants?

[Soylent Brice]

12. i have no idea. i just know that whatever happens we'll be

fed shit and kept in the dark.

it's the only constant in our lives.

[n2doc]

6. there is no doubt that there is subsurface oil

BP is using dispersants at the wellhead. And once one produces small enough droplets (micron sized or smaller) it doesn't matter that oil is buoyant. the viscosity and motion of water will keep such droplets suspended.

The big question is how much oil? NOAA is downplaying this, I don't think it is nefarious but they do come at the problem with an attitude that the plume is small and localized. They are mainly using fluorescence mapping for their data, which can underestimate things. But they are also doing direct water sampling.

A big issue is how to sample for subsurface oil effectively. Traditionally one uses a bottle that goes down open at both ends, like a tube. At the selected depth a catch is released and 2 stoppers close off the op and bottom. But if the bottle goes down through a surface layer of oil, the some of that oil can stick to the sides of the bottle and be captured. This shows up as a false positive. Conversely, oil in a sample at depth could also stick to the bottle sides after capture, leading to erroneously low values. Lots of arguing/discussion on how to sample things in the best way. This is new for the field.

[defendandprotect]

7. BP had no credibility from the first week of lying about the leak....

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. BP's only worried about how BP will come out in all of this

That's their number one concern. Any good they do along the way is incidental as they work at mitigating their damages. That's the bottom line.

[wordpix]

10. of course, they just want their investors to be happy, no matter what happens to the ocean

:grr:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. That's pretty much it

They're not directly concerned with the ocean, the wildlife or the people's livelihoods being effected. Their concern lies within the realm of what impact this may have on their companies shares and on the oil industry down the road. It just so happens they have to deal with the ocean, the wildlife and the people in the path of their oil leak as a part of keeping their company solvent.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Scientist Awed by Size, Density of Undersea Oil Plume in Gulf

Scientist Awed by Size, Density of Undersea Oil Plume in Gulf

Vast underwater concentrations of oil sprawling for miles in the Gulf of Mexico from the damaged, crude-belching BP PLC well are unprecedented in "human history" and threaten to wreak havoc on marine life, a team of scientists said today, a finding confirmed for the first time by federal officials.

"It's an infusion of oil and gas unlike anything else that has ever been seen anywhere, certainly in human history," said Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia, the expedition leader.

Bacteria are breaking down the oil's hydrocarbons in a massive, microorganism feeding frenzy that has sent oxygen levels plunging close to what is considered "dead zone" conditions, at which most marine life are smothered for a lack of dissolved oxygen.

Such low-oxygen conditions were noticed farther from the spill site, although Joye said she did not think the process would immediately produce a dead zone, since low nutrient concentrations in the water would limit the rate of the bacterial consumption.

Joye said her team also measured extremely high levels of methane, which is also spewing from the gushing BP well at up to 10,000 times background levels in Gulf waters.

"I've been working in the Gulf of Mexico for 15 years," Joye said. "I've never seen methane concentration this high anywhere in the water."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/08/08greenwire-scientist-awed-by-size-density-of-undersea-oil-98517.html

USF scientists: BP not helpful in researching oil layers

ST. PETERSBURG - Officials with BP have been less than helpful in assisting University of South Florida researchers who have been investigating the presence of invisible oil layers deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at the College of Marine Science expressed frustration this morning at the lack of cooperation from the giant oil company responsible for the biggest oil spill in the country's history.

"I've tried to get a piece of the oil from the BP representatives and it was met with some resistance,'' said David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer at the university. "I was just taken aback by it. It was a little unsettling. I was hoping for a little more cooperation.

"There's 50 million barrels in their reservoir,'' Hollander added. "I'm sure they could spare one.''

Hollander made his comments at a news conference where university and federal officials announced the findings of their tests on Gulf waters that were taken last month.

BP officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read more: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jun/08/081410/usf-scientists-bp-not-helpful-researching-oil-laye/news-breaking/

[sabra]

14. Underwater Oil "Clouds" 42 Miles from BP Well

Source: CBS News/AP

Gov't Confirms Presence of "Very Low Concentrations" of Subsurface Crude; Containment Cap "Steadily" Capturing More of Leak

The government's leading water and air monitoring agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, confirmed Tuesday the presence of "very low concentrations of sub-surface oil" as far as 42 miles from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Coast Guard Incident Commander, Adm. Thad Allen told reporters in the oil-mired Gulf region Tuesday that the term "plume" - which has been used often by the media in anticipation of the reported underwater oil patches - was not a good definition of the pockets of crude located by research vessels.

"Cloud" would be a better term, Allen told reporters, explaining that a plume normally has a clearly defined source and a pattern of dispersion based on air or water currents.

Lubchenco said that tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface 42 miles northeast of the well site.

Lubchenco said the analysis "indicate there is definitely oil sub surface. It's in very low concentrations" of 0.5 parts per million.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/08/national/main6560662.shtml?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel

[democrank]

15. K & R