USA: Scientists say huge oil plumes forming below surface in Gulf of Mexico; BP urges caution in identifying plumes

Record ID: 345026

  • Title: USA: Scientists say huge oil plumes forming below surface in Gulf of Mexico; BP urges caution in identifying plumes
  • Date: 18th May 2010
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES (MAY 17, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO TESTIFYING LATEST CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON THE APRIL 20 OIL RIG EXPLOSION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO SAYING: "I think, first of all, we have to be careful right now about what is being assumed about the undersea plume and not. I think the head of NOAA this afternoon put out a statement saying that some of those early reports that had been made were not based on observation and had not been verified and confirmed certainly by some of the other work that we was being done. Obviously, we need to continue to watch the undersea plume to the extent one develops in addition to the top of the sea spill." NAPOLITANO SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAMAR MCKAY, CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT OF BP AMERICA, SAYING: "This oil does disperse naturally as it's rising in the water column. So not all of it makes it to the surface and it does disperse. Those particles are very small and they disperse through the currents and through the water column and gradually dissipate. So I think what we're interested in, if someone has data on a plume, in terms of extend or density or anything else we want to get that data. But right now, I think we ought to be cautious in terms of defining what plumes are out there and how they're behaving."
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Nature / Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ZHIMQ0ZV6B99L0W0J71L6UHC
  • Story Text: Scientists said on Monday (May 17) that they had found huge underwater plumes of oil several miles (kilometers) long in the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting much wider impact to the marine habitat than previously thought.
    Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi, was part of a team of scientists on board a research vessel called the Pelican collecting deep water samples from the spill region.
    "We found layers, or I guess you can call them clouds that are well down, over 2,000 feet down in the water column. Some of them are much lower than that," he said.
    "It's rising up from the sea floor and it's reaching some level where it spreads out and the prevailing currents just drift it along."
    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cast doubt on the reports, saying no definitive conclusions had been reached about the discovery of plume because the findings were unverified.
    U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified in the latest Congressional hearing on the oil spill.
    "I think, first of all, we have to be careful right now about what is being assumed about the undersea plume and not," she said.
    "I think the head of NOAA this afternoon put out a statement saying that some of those early reports that had been made were not based on observation and had not been verified and confirmed certainly by some of the other work that we was being done. Obviously, we need to continue to watch the undersea plume to the extent one develops in addition to the top of the sea spill."
    BP Chairman Lamar McKay told the hearing that even if there were clouds of oil under the surface, the oil could disperse naturally as it rises in the water column.
    "If someone has data on a plume, in terms of extend or density or anything else we want to get that data. But right now, I think we ought to be cautious in terms of defining what plumes are out there and how they're behaving," he said.
    The spill has been flowing unchecked since April 20, when and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig sank the drilling platform and killed 11 workers. Estimates of the oil flowing from the blown-out well vary from 5000 to over 25000 barrels a day.
    There are fears that as the slick, which is broken into segments, spreads through the action of winds and current, it could run into the so-called "Loop Current" that could take it down to the Florida Keys and even up the U.S. East Coast.
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