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Opinion: Measure methane to quantify the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (AOP)
There are still no reliable estimates of how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. In an Opinion piece online in Nature, David Valentine suggests that scientists should measure the methane dissolved in the gulf’s waters to estimate the total spillage. Although federal agencies currently put the release rate at 5,000 barrels per day, other estimates have ranged from 1,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. The number is important — it will affect future plans for clean-up, and the liability of oil company BP.
Valentine predicts that methane gas — a natural part of the oil leak — will dissolve in the water on its way up to the surface from depth. It will be easier to map and measure plumes of water containing high concentrations of methane gas, he says, than to map and measure the oil. But it needs to be done quickly. He calls for scientists to map the rough shape and size of the plumes this June, and then to follow this with a thorough two-vessel expedition, to ensure the plumes are quantified as comprehensively as possible. This is not an unreasonable call. The US academic research fleet alone has a dozen vessels capable of this research, and costs would probably be a few million dollars or less. But capitalizing on this idea requires immediate action.
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David Valentine (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
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