Gulf Oil Spill: Outrageous Methane levels causing Global Warming

On April 21st 2010, the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), situated about 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Macondo Prospect oil field, exploded. The blast killed 11 workers and injured 17 others. It caused the Deepwater Horizon to sink, and started a massive ongoing offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; which is now considered the worst environmental disaster in United States history.[1] As of today, the oil has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for over 86 days. The department of energy claims over 1,470,000 gallons of oil are leaking into the Gulf every day. (other estimates, including BP's worst case scenario, suggest a number more like 2,520,000 gallons a day) [2] If we use the lesser number of 1,470,000, and multiply it by the number of days in which the oil has been spilling, we come up with the number 92,340,117. Wow, this is alot of oil.

We all know the BP gulf oil spill is having a tremendous negative impact on our environment, but how bad is it? The mainstream media continues to cover the BP gulf oil spill, but not much has been mentioned concerning the frozen deposits of methane which have been released in the area.

Let's take a moment to discuss the nature of methane and it's effects on the environment. Methane is a chemical compound, its chemical formula is CH4. It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. It is also a potent greenhouse gas, and has a high global warming potential of 72 (calculated over a period of 20 years) or 25 (for a time period of 100 years).[3] Methane is eventually oxidized, producing carbon dioxide and water.

So, what does this mean? This means methane is 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. [4] This is important because methane is a well-known greenhouse gas which causes global warming.

What does this have to do with the BP gulf oil spill? Answer: EVERYTHING! Everyone has been so focused on the amount of oil spilling into the gulf that they forgot to discuss the amount of methane being released into the ocean. Around 60% of the volume spewed from the pipe was oil, but the other 40% was methane [5]. During the spill scientists measured over one million times the average level of methane in the gulf region. Basically, what happens is methane bubbles in the ocean reach the surface and burst like balloons entering the atmosphere. Methane also has an expansion factor and expands 3000 times in volume as it rises from the sea floor [6]. This scenario has occurred before during the planets history. A 2001 study conducted by NASA confirms that 55 million years ago a volcanic eruption triggered a similar release of methane deposits frozen beneath the sea floor, which in turn heated the Earth by up to 13°F. This time period was known as the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM) and lasted nearly 100,000 years.[7]

On March 5th 2010, the times on-line reported that scientist in the east Siberian sea discovered huge quantities of methane below the Arctic seabed which were showing signs of destabilizing.[8] This, coupled with the BP gulf oil spill could lead to an unprecedented issue of global warming which was previously not an immediate cause for concern.

So, there you have it, the BP oil spill has the potential to destroy our environment beyond repair.

Please share this article with others, people need to understand what's going on. Cited Sources and video listed below.

Oil spill disaster

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28flow.html?_r=1
2. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/06/scientists-again-raise-government-estimate-of-oil-leak-rate.html
3. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group 1, Chapter 2 Available online in PDF format
4. http://www.epa.gov/methane/
5. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=deepwater-methane-study
6. http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html
7. http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20011210/
8. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7050312.ece

If you made it this far, here is something extra.

I am bored forum