Texas A&M: Methane Levels In Gulf Of Mexico Up To 1,000,000 x Normal! Thats ONE MILLION!

Originally posted by Doc Velocity

Originally posted by Aliensun
What I'm waiting to hear about is massive amounts of dead water creatures killed by toxic waters. Those would be the "canarys" of the spill. It is a puzzle to me why no word along that line.

EXACTLY!

Where ARE all them dead birds and turtles and dolphins and sharks and crabs and Sea Monkies? Gee, they're just not appearing on cue for the breathless Mainstream Media.

People, get real... We didn't INVENT oil leaks in the Gulf nor elsewhere on the planet. Oil naturally escapes into the Earth's oceans ALL THE TIME. The ocean has evolved failsafes to deal with it. Flags go up, marine creatures avoid problem spots, and microbes eat up the spillage.

But our advanced thinking tells us to NUKE the goddamned thing, right? Yeah, THAT'LL restore the natural balance.

— Doc Velocity

Come now. The oceans can obviously deal with a "natural" amount of oil seepage, but this is an overload. For want of a better analogy, we need salt to live but what if you ate a 2lb bag of the stuff in one go? Oh, and not to mention the god-knows-how many gallons of Corexit muck - can nature just take that on the chin as well?

And I think we all know why we're not seeing pictures of all the dead wildlife.....or much else.

Yes, some people are getting carried away - but I think you're going too far the other way

reply to post by Doc Velocity

The ocean has evolved failsafes to deal with it. Flags go up, marine creatures avoid problem spots, and microbes eat up the spillage.

This part we totally agree on. If the leak is stopped by August. If the Relief Wells work, then the Ocean and Marshes and filter fish and microbes will take care of it. Within 1-2 years this will be a memory. For the next 20 years we will get the occasional oil washing up on shore, and the Oysters and Shrimp will be off limits for awhile. The economic impact will be horrendous, but nature will heal.

First and Foremost: WE HAVE TO STOP THE DAM LEAK!

I don't think the oil or methane is the real issue but, the 1.4 million gallons of CorExit. The EPA started a study over a month ago, on what ??? The people down there ? Where are the findings ? This dispersant is not suppose to be force aerosoled onto surface water, per MSDS... Not only that, they are burning this stuff out there with the oil. This is my REAL concern @ the moment. just saying....

reply to post by ThreeNF


I flagged your comment but I wanted to add a thought. The only problem with your theory about a fireball not happening yet assumes the concentrations of the buildup and release have been at a maximum output. I suspect there are possible releases from under the well that could happen to send massive amounts of methane in huge bursts which are steering this concept of fireballs. If the data concerning the upwelling of the sea floor are correct then something is pressurizing the area. If that is the case, methane is logical as the gas of choice to be causing the expansion. As the methane molecules heat up, the pressure increases will expand the area or rip a hole. Seems like someone had some good data in one of these threads about the cracks around the well head.

Still in the end, it might be silly to think there could be a monstrous fireball that will endanger all of life in a radius of 200 miles. What is not silly for sure, would be the bouyance issues for shipping should there be bursts of methane bubbling under them as they pass over the area. There has been plenty of opportunity so far as the weather has been calm for a spark to start an explosion. But when a hurricane blows through, there would be little opportunity for concentrations to remain high in any area just due to wind alone. Not to mention vortices like waterspouts.

on another note

I checked the EPA sites for acid rain data and it is not very informative as to what the pH of the rain is.
camddataandmaps.epa.gov...

I have seen recent acid rain data and that was 4.7-6.2 pH the last few months which is normal for the last 20 years of looking (with it trending toward neutral 7.0 instead of 4.0). The more rain in a rain event the higher the pH, usually. I would suspect oils and hydrocarbons getting in the sample would possibly make it less acidic than normal but then it is way more toxic. We would prefer the acid from Sulfur Dioxide over a soup of hydrocarbons. But neither is best.

Originally posted by Wally898
Napa!

That definitely is over NINNEEEEE THOOOUUUSSSSSAAAANNNNDDDD!!!!

This can spell disaster especially concerning the new arrival of Hurricane Alex..

Methane is extremely combustible :O

9000 whats??? Peanut butter sandwches? Numbers without units are meaningless garbage. Maybe it's 9000 molecules? Or 9000 cubic feet? I have to assume since there are no units specified that you are talking parts per billion (ppb) by weight.
You are correct that it is very flammable. But it is explosive only when it gets to a mixture of 5-15%. So it would take 50 million parts per billion, or about 5 and one-half times the present concentration to go BOOM.

Here's a Business Insider article:

Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead

www.businessinsider.com...

Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead

Michael Snyder | Jun. 30, 2010, 12:20 PM

Are you sure that you want to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? In a previous article we documented a number of the health dangers from this oil spill that many scientists are warning us of, and now it has been reported on CNN that the vast majority of those who worked to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are now dead.

Yes, you read that correctly. Almost all of them are dead.

In fact, the expert that CNN had on said that the life expectancy for those who worked to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill is only about 51 years. Considering the fact that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now many times worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster, are you sure you want to volunteer to be on a cleanup crew down there? After all, the American Dream is not to make big bucks for a few months helping BP clean up their mess and then drop dead 20 or 30 years early.

This news clip from CNN is absolutely stunning. If this is even close to true, then why would anyone want to be involved in helping to clean up this oil?....
The truth is that what we have out in the Gulf of Mexico is a "toxic soup" of oil, methane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, other toxic gases and very poisonous chemical dispersants such as Corexit 9500.
...

...More at link

[edit on 30-6-2010 by Dbriefed]

Originally posted by 4nsicphd

Originally posted by Wally898
Napa!

That definitely is over NINNEEEEE THOOOUUUSSSSSAAAANNNNDDDD!!!!

This can spell disaster especially concerning the new arrival of Hurricane Alex..

Methane is extremely combustible :O

9000 whats??? Peanut butter sandwches? Numbers without units are meaningless garbage. Maybe it's 9000 molecules? Or 9000 cubic feet? I have to assume since there are no units specified that you are talking parts per billion (ppb) by weight.
You are correct that it is very flammable. But it is explosive only when it gets to a mixture of 5-15%. So it would take 50 million parts per billion, or about 5 and one-half times the present concentration to go BOOM.

Ok everyone look the over nine thousand thing is a joke i shall include a link to said joke at the end of this post. Oh and the methane levels according to this article are well over 9000!!!!!!!!!!!
www.youtube.com...

Methane in these quantities should definitely raise an eyebrow. It is no secret that this well sits right above a massive pool of methane and BP and Transocean were warned about this a year ago. They were poking and drilling in a highly volatile area at depths never seen before in the Gulf.

The pressure of the methane is a major concern and many experts agree that the pressure that is blowing the oil into the Gulf is estimated to be between 30,000 and 70,000 psi. Further speculation suggests that the pressure of the methane at the base of the well head that lies deep under the ocean floor, may be as high as 100,000 psi. That is just inconceivable and way beyond the capacity of any component that may be used to cap this well.

There has already been lengthy discussions and debates regarding the new formation of fissures and cracks that were detected by the ROV cameras. Imagine those opening enough under tremendous pressure to allow a massive methane bubble to release. The effects of such an event would be disastrous. Any ships and oil rigs in the vicinity will lose buoyancy and sink like stones. God only knows what else could happen if there was an actual explosion at the surface.



[edit on 30-6-2010 by jibeho]

Some "jacques Cousteau" or other divers should get down there and bring back real footage of the sea on the marine life. And not trust any official organisations.
It's almost impossible to live in that environnement and be okay. I am not talking about news or articles.Show us something we can see and spread.

Greetings all - LA here.
"...large, ancient pocket of gas near the oil which is in danger of rupture.."

What I'm hearing from GOM:

This is an H2S field being reported by GOM sources. He mentioned, prior to drilling, BP was aware there was a field or pocket of H2S there, but drilled anyway. Toxin levels are not near troublesome at this time. Sour Gas or Sour Gas pocket was mentioned.

The concern is if the faultline becomes active, where will it release the pressure? This field is still a major concern for all in the gulf.

From a personal contact - sent this by email:
"I have a friend who is a Tug Boat Captain is contradicting everything on the Internet and saying about what your source is saying, my source in Panama is also in agreement with yours."

Unfortunately - I cannot dismiss anything regarding the methane info, except what I heard by the friend I know - "they continue to burn in the gulf and the methane is not the issue, the seaping H2S field is"

Having personal contacts in the gulf - I'll go with who I know in this one.
Thank you & God Bless

im going to be there in about a month, on tour. me and some other people from my record label are going to try to get some footage and interviews.

the record label im on is based in new orleans. this is terrible news. i hope it doesnt come to this.

You should see the lightning storms we have down here on the gulf coast since the blowout. With a the methane in the air, you get green, yellow, red bursts that amplify the original lightning bolts. Its like the rare ball lightning but everytime now. Its crazy...

Originally posted by paxnatus

Originally posted by Whine Flu
It's over NINE THOUUUUSAAAAAAAND!

What exactly are you saying? If you read the articles, I very clearly stated that the estimates were from June 24, 6 days ago. And I believe the dates are listed as well.

so if it is over 1,000,000 then state the number with a link.

Thanks,
Pax

"over 9000" is a quote from dragon ball z that has now become an internet meme.

Find the STEL, SOEL, TBI, and MEL to determine the exposure limits.
Google it!

www.wtgexpert.com...

The vast deepwater methane hydrate deposits of the Gulf of Mexico are an open secret in big energy circles. They represent the most tantalizing new frontier of unconventional energy — a potential source of hydrocarbon fuel thought to be twice as large as all the petroleum deposits ever known.

For the oil and gas industry, the substances are also known to be the primary hazard when drilling for deepwater oil.

Methane hydrates are volatile compounds — natural gas compressed into molecular cages of ice. They are stable in the extreme cold and crushing weight of deepwater, but are extremely dangerous when they build up inside the drill column of a well. If destabilized by heat or a decrease in pressure, methane hydrates can quickly expand to 164 times their volume.

.

Even a solid steel pipe has little chance against a 164-fold expansion of volume — something that would render a man six feet six inches tall suddenly the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Scientists are well aware of the awesome power of these strange hydrocarbons. A sudden large scale release of methane hydrates is believed to have caused a mass extinction 55 million years ago. Among planners concerned with mega-disasters, their sudden escape is considered to be a threat comparable to an asteroid strike or nuclear war. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a Livermore, Ca.-based weapons design center, reports that when released on a large scale, methane hydrates can even cause tsunamis.

Expansion oh 164 times when melted is scary. Would if they have hit a large frozen methane pocket. Thwy were 20 miles from a methane hydrate research site.

The Deepwater Horizon rig was drilling in Block 252 of an area known as the Mississippi Canyon of the Gulf, thought to contain methane hydrate-bearing sediments, according to government maps. The platform was operating less than 20 miles from a methane hydrate research site located in the same canyon at Block 118.

The MOAB fuel air bombs that were used in Desert Storm would look like an M80 compared to what could happen if the fuel/air mixture 'got right' over the gulf and was ignited. Scary!

What are the health effects of toxic levels of methane inhalation?

Originally posted by paxnatus

Originally posted by Whine Flu
I'm just saying that the reading from Texan scouters concerning the methane level is over nine thousand.

Really? Do you have a link for this source? So the scientists at Texas A&M, and UGA are wrong? Yet, Reuters reported it to be accurate and so did the Associated Press.

If I have somehow misinterpreted what I have read then please I'm open to seeing your facts on the subject.

Thanks kindly,
Pax

rofl....made my day...dude got trolled


@ paxnatus...- the guy is just messing around man....

[edit on 30-6-2010 by Noobastronomer]

The BP oil blowout, now into its 11th week, is releasing large quantities of methane into the ocean, most of which is remaining dissolved in the waters deep beneath the surface.

The gas represents an under-appreciated pollutant in a drill-rig disaster that has pumped as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, researchers say.

Unlike the oil, the methane isn't coating birds or fouling beaches and wetlands. But it has the potential to wreak havoc on important links in the undersea food chain, researchers say.

By volume, some 40 percent of the hydrocarbons in the reservoir the Deepwater Horizon tapped is gas, of which 95 percent is methane, notes Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at the University of Georgia who has been gathering data at sea on the methane plumes.

By weight, she and her colleagues estimate, for every ton of oil spewing from the broken riser pipe, a half a ton of gas is blasting upward as well. "That's a tremendous amount of gas coming into the water column," she says.

Yet gas data represents the largest gap in efforts to take the full measure of the blowout, Dr. Joye says. That gap results from "the perception that it doesn't really matter; the focus is on oil, oil, oil."

Oil clearly has its own set of serious environmental effects. But the gas's behavior and fate at depth also is relevant to gauging the blowout's full ecological impact.

"It's not the same as the oil, but it's a big number," Joye says. " We have to get a handle on it, and we don't have a handle on it right now."

...A 10-day research cruise in mid-June took measurements over a distance that ranged from about 1,600 feet from the blowout to eight miles away. The team, led by David Valentine from the University of California at Santa Barbara and John Kessler from Texas A&M University, found that methane concentrations "were low in the surface water and overlying air, very high at depths greater than 3,000 feet, and somewhat elevated in between," Dr. Valentine writes in an email exchange.

"We are interpreting this data to mean that the vast majority of the methane that escapes the top hat is trapped at depths of around one kilometer, and that only small amounts are likely to escape through the ocean to the atmosphere," he says.

The methane remains a captive of deep water because in temperate and tropical oceans, sea water forms stable layers that don't readily mix upward, he explains.

www.csmonitor.com...

Personally, Idon't think they've thought through the implications of the methane clouds yet. The oxygen is the limiting factor on microbial action, which would eliminate the threat if the methane wasn't constantly being replenished from the leak.

But:

a. the replenishment rate is far higher than the microbes can deal with.

b. they obviously haven't considered the consequences of the plumes being pushed into shallower waters.

c. nor have they considered what will happen when low pressure from a storm passes over the subsea cloud and lifts the water, which will change the pressure dynamics and allow the methane to rise.

I make these assertions based on what I'm not hearing them discuss. I can't blame them for not thinking of these things yet...this is all very new and they are focussed on a different level of the problem that is enormously complex and interesting from a science point of view.

So it's mostly a matter of being too busy and preoccupied to ask the right questions...

I think that toxic fogs will arise out of the water in the circumstances I've outlined above. Not Huge, all-enveloping clouds, but rather locally deadly puffs and breezes that can kill boat crews and seashore inhabitants. At least at first. If this keeps going, though, who knows how big the deadly burps might get?

www.aade.org...

Here is Haliburtons PDF on "Deepwater Cementing Consideration to Prevent Hydrates Destabilization". So we know the deepwater cementing didn't go as planned so there is a good cjance of hydrates destabilization according to Haliburton.