Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay

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Both of the given reading assignments written in joint efforts with a myriad of researchers and our upcoming speaker Dr. Kessler took an in depth look at the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill. The first report published in Science magazine focused on the effect of the methane (CH4) release. In contrast to the earlier published article the second, published in Environmental Science magazine amassed data on the spread of the CH4 plumes. While in ordinary conditions CH4 in the ocean is no cause for alarm, the natural process being able to be safely transported out in the form of CO2. This conversion process is called oxidation. In the case of innumerable gallons of oil leakage, there was a significant effect on the deep sea environment. One of the primary focuses was the effect on the bacteria found in the ocean that break down the released hydrocarbons, known as methylotrophs. Researchers found the there was a distinct shift in the populations of these organisms in the months following the Deepwater Horizon event. Although unable to say conclusively what initial populations were, researchers suspect that the conditions provided an ideal environment for …show more content…
This method takes into consideration how the methane is broken down, oxidization, which takes molecular oxygen out of the environment. This method was used previously to examine the population of methylotrophs, however in this case the dissolved oxygen levels were used in order to determine where the methane was being actively broken down. The information gathered, lead researchers to discover that the plumes were in fact moving. Although restricted to depths of over 700 ft due to the depth of the plumes, researchers were later able to position bin sites outside of their initial search zone and could document the dispersion of the methane. Later being able to produce the following map of the gulf and the diffusion

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