Massive Coral Die-Off

Massive deep-sea coral die-off found near BP oil disaster source in GOM

Large colonies of bottom-dwelling coral were found covered in a black substance, most probably crude oil, at a depth of about 1,400m (4,600 feet) near the damaged Macondo wellhead, NOAA scientists said.

This dying coral was found covered in a dark substance, near the damaged Macondo wellhead. Could it be oil from the BP oil disaster in GOM? Image source: NOAA

“Corals do die, but you don’t see them die all at once,” said cruise lead scientist Charles Fisher of Penn State University. “This … indicates a recent catastrophic event,” he told National Geographic News.

“The proximity of the site to the disaster, the depth of the site, the clear evidence of recent impact, and the uniqueness of the observations all suggest that the impact we have found is linked to the exposure of this community to either oil, dispersant, extremely depleted oxygen, or some combination of these or other water-borne effects resulting from the spill,” Fisher said.

Related Links

• Oil Disasters
• Fisher Deep-Sea Lab

Methane in Gulf Million Times Above Normal

Methane gas is up to 1 million times higher than the normal level near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill:  U.S. Researchers

Such incredibly high levels of methane could deplete oxygen and create a larger than usual dead zone in Gulf of Mexico.

An oceanography professor at Texas A&M University, who spent ten days researching the water quality near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas close to the spill source are “astonishingly high,” a report said.

“There is an incredible amount of methane in there,” Kessler said, noting that his team of 12 researchers has found concentrations of methane that were 100,000 times higher than normal within an 8 km (5-mile) radius of BP’s ruptured wellhead.

“We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations” in some areas, Kessler said.

“At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is,” he added.

The oxygen depletion are still above a critical level, he said, but the oil still leaking into the Gulf, at about 60,000 barrels per day.

“What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?”

The researchers believe measuring the methane level could provide a more accurate estimate of the rate of oil spill, and are hoping to have their own estimate soon.

“Give us about a week and we should have some preliminary numbers on that,” he said.

Related Links:

• Earth Enemy: Judge Martin Feldman
• Gulf of Mexico Worth More Dead Than Alive: Oil Industry
• World’s Largest Oil Tailing Pond – Satellite Images
• BP Hayward: Frankly, I Couldn’t Give a Damn!
• Oil Disasters

Just Before the Oil Attack …

Image of the Day:

Sunset on the Louisiana Coastline , Just Before the Oil Attack

Freeze frame from a Reuters news video. Feel free to print the photo and send as postcard to the BP CEO:

Tony Hayward, CEO
BP Plc
International Headquarters
1 St James’s Square
London, SW1Y 4PD
UK

Feel free also to use strong language to describe your emotions to Mr Hayward …

Don’t forget to send copies of the photo to those of the lawmakers who pandered to the wishes of the Oil Lobby, allowing their clients to operate without an essential safety feature, a  sonar device that is deployed at drilling cites as a last resort to shut down the flow of oil from an underwater well.  While the law in Brazil and Norway requires oil companies to deploy such devices near the oil well; the law in the US does not require oil companies to operate one.

Related Links:

• Obama’s energy security falls around his ankles
• Oil Disasters
  

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