Bacteria Ate All the Methane From the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, New Study Says
Water Collection Scientists deploy a CTD Rosette system from the NOAA ship Pisces for collecting water samples in the Gulf of Mexico. Elizabeth Crapo/NOAA Following the greatest environmental catastrophe in recent history, the lowest life forms among us have been the biggest heroes. Once again, scientists have found that bacteria ate up the remnants of the the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Within four months of the oil spill, bacterial blooms had removed more than 200,000 metric tons of dissolved methane, returning concentrations to normal background levels. That was a surprise, because in mid-June, scientists found methane concentrations nearly 100,000 times above normal levels, and learned it was decomposing slowly, suggesting it would take years for the hydrocarbon to dissipate. "We couldn't have been more wrong. It decomposed rather quickly and was completely consumed within a matter of months," said lead researcher John Kessler, an oceanographer at Texas A&M University, in a news release. Kessler...