A persistent oxygen anomaly reveals the fate of spilled methane in the deep Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Methane was the most abundant hydrocarbon released during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulfof Mexico. Beyond relevancy to this anthropogenic event, this methane release simulates a rapid and relatively short-term natural release from hydrates into deep water. Based on methane and oxygendistributions measured at 207 stations throughout the affected region, we find that within ~120 days from theonset of release ~3.0 × 1010 to 3.9 × 1010 moles of oxygen were respired, primarily by methanotrophs, and left behind a residual microbial community containing methanotrophic bacteria. We suggest that a vigorousdeepwater bacterial bloom respired nearly all the released methane within this time, and that by analogy, large-scale releases of methane from hydrate in the deep ocean are likely to be met by a similarly rapid methanotrophic response.

Department

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Publication Date

1-21-2011

Volume

331

Journal Title

Science

Pages

p. 312 - 315

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1126/science.1199697

Document Type

Journal Article

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS