Scientists from St. Petersburg find high methane readings near oil disaster site, St. Petersburg Times, July 21, 2010:
Deposits of methane gas... because they are so deep beneath the ocean, have frozen into icy crystals.
Disturbing those deposits — say, by drilling an oil well through them — can turn that solid methane into a liquid, leaving the ocean floor unstable, explained [Carol Lutken of the University of Mississippi]. ...
Worse, the freed gas may explode... There have been rumors that a similar methane explosion could cause a tsunami, a concern that government officials say is unfounded. ...
Generally the oil industry tries to avoid methane areas during drilling for safety reasons. But the U.S. Energy Department wants to find a way to harvest fuel from those methane deposits, Lutken said.
Recent reports on methane:
- Methane plumes “flowing upslope” into shallower water; “Further up in the water column than we had seen” says scientist
- *JUST IN* Feds confirm Methane seeping from at least 2 places in seafloor; At 100-200 meters & 3 KILOMETERS from well (VIDEO)
- Confirmed: “Methane escaping at the surface” is “bubbling through the strata” says oil expert Nieuwenhuise on CNN at 1:17pm (VIDEO)
- Drudge reports methane at “levels only seen during mass extinction events” (PHOTOS)
- SHOCK: Water “sample exploded” when chemist tested for oil; “Most likely” methane or Corexit (VIDEO)
- MSNBC: “Scientists starting to voice concerns about methane being at levels that will kill millions”
- Methane dead zone found just offshore “linked to oil”; Stretches entire 1500 sq. miles of sample area
- Top scientist: Only one ship testing methane levels in Gulf, NOAA hiding results; Amount is “just startlingly high”
- Paper: BP “Disaster will continue for a decade or two” as oil moves “back into surface waters”
- “Recovery time can be centuries, or not at all” for Gulf of Mexico dead zones
- Oil spill oceanographer: “Astonishingly high” methane levels “approach a million times above” normal
- BP Blowout: “Most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history”
so what does this mean? there is a possiblity of a Tsunami or what?
I am very concerned that there is some sort of much larger problem looming- simply because with the purported "capping" of the well, the MSM coverage of this oil disaster has all but disappeared from the headlines!
The press is ignoring the "cleanup".
The press is ignoring the tar balls.
The press is ignoring the higher concentrations of chemicals near the disaster site and on Gulf coast beaches.
The press is ignoring the "plumes" that we were hearing so much about.