Methane gas concentrations have returned to near-normal levels

Calling the results "extremely surprising," researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Texas A&M University report that methane gas concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico have returned to near normal levels only months after a massive release occurred following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

"What we observed in June was a horizon of deep water laden with methane and other hydrocarbon gases," Valentine said. "When we returned in September and October and tracked these waters, we found the gases were gone. In their place were residual methane-eating bacteria, and a 1 million ton deficit in dissolved oxygen that we attribute to respiration of methane by these bacteria."

While the scientists' research documents the changing conditions of the Gulf waters, it also sheds some light on how the planet functions naturally.

"This tragedy enabled an impossible experiment," Valentine said, "one that allowed us to track the fate of a massive methane release in the deep ocean, as has occurred naturally throughout Earth's history."

Read the Article Here