Deepwater oil lingers

It may take many decades for the full impact and extent of the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to be discovered. For the moment though a group of researchers have established the current extent of the spillage, if not the full repercussions of that spill.

Until this research was done, only the oil levels in the subsurface water had been established. What had not been discovered was how wide, deep, and connected is the oil plume.

The researchers began zig-zagging an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from the site of the blown out pipe. Their measurements were stopped in late June by Hurricane Alex but between June 19th and June 28th they took a series of measurements.

Their findings showed that the oil plume was probably more than 35 kilometres long and is suspended at a depth of between 1000 and 1200 metres below the surface. In some places the oil plume is more than two kilometres wide and more than 200 metres thick. By any standards, it is a monster environmental phenomenon and the early evidence is that the ocean is struggling to cope.

When microbes in the ocean break down hydrocarbons such as oil they increase their intake of oxygen. So if a lot of breakdown was occurring you would expect there to be a significant drop in oxygen levels. This report found that oxygen levels in the region of the Gulf have not dipped significantly since the oil spill began. This indicates that the breakdown is probably slow and the oil will not disappear anytime soon.

There are scientists with differing views on the rate of oil breakdown that is occurring but what we know is that this is an environmental event the likes of which has never been seen before. Never has the phrase we are in uncharted waters been so apt and never has the phrase pouring oil on troubled waters been so out of place.

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