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22-Mile-Long Oily Plume Mapped Near BP Well Site
 msnbc
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August 27, 2010
Study is first peer-reviewed look at ecosystem concern — and questions U.S. optimism.
Scientists this week reported results from the first detailed study of a giant plume of oily water near the blown-out BP well — stating that it measured at least 22 miles long, more than a mile wide and 650 feet tall.
While other scientists earlier found evidence of plumes in the area, the new data is the first peer-reviewed study about oil lurking in the water, in this case at some 3,000 feet below the surface. It's also the first to offer some details about the size and characteristics of a plume not only vast in size but which remained stable and intact during a 10-day survey last June.
Moreover, the study adds to the controversy over how much oil is still in the Gulf ecosystem from the spill. The U.S. government earlier this month estimated that 75 percent of the oil that spewed from the Macondo well had been skimmed, burned or broken up by chemical dispersants and natural microbes in the water.
The plume, which scientists said came from the busted Gulf well, shows the oil "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," lead researcher Rich Camilli said in a statement issued with the study. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded. Well, we didn’t find that. We found it was still there."
How significant a threat to the Gulf's ecosystem the plume might be is still not clear, but further analysis of collected water samples could shed light on that.
"We don’t know how toxic it is," said Chris Reddy, who like Camilli works for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "And we don’t know how it formed, or why. But knowing the size, shape, depth and heading of this plume will be vital for answering many of these questions."
The collected water samples had no odor of oil and the plume is mostly water mixed with some hydrocarbons that include oil. "The plume was not a river of Hershey’s syrup," said Reddy. "But that’s not to say it isn’t harmful to the environment." |
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