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22-mile-long oily plume mapped near BP well site
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of MSNBC
Posted: August 31st, 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38770508
Scientists on [August 19] reported results from the first detailed study of a giant plume of oily water near the blown-out BP well stating that it measured at least 22 miles long, more than a mile wide and 650 feet tall. While other scientists earlier found evidence of plumes in the area, the new data is the first peer-reviewed study about oil lurking in the water, in this case at some 3,000 feet below the surface. It's also the first to offer some details about the size and characteristics of a plume not only vast in size but which remained stable and intact during a 10-day survey last June. Moreover, the study adds to the controversy over how much oil is still in the Gulf ecosystem from the spill. The U.S. government earlier this month estimated that 75 percent of the oil that spewed from the Macondo well had been skimmed, burned or broken up by chemical dispersants and natural microbes in the water. The plume ... shows the oil "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," lead researcher Rich Camilli said in a statement issued with the study. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded. Well, we didnt find that. We found it was still there."
Note: Yet another major media report states an oil eating microbe has made this plume "undetectable." Is this true, or could it be just pro-oil company propaganda?
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