1. Comment on "A persistent oxygen anomaly reveals the fate of spilled methane in the deep Gulf of Mexico".
- Author
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Joye SB, Leifer I, MacDonald IR, Chanton JP, Meile CD, Teske AP, Kostka JE, Chistoserdova L, Coffin R, Hollander D, Kastner M, Montoya JP, Rehder G, Solomon E, Treude T, and Villareal TA
- Subjects
- Atlantic Ocean, Biodegradation, Environmental, Biomass, Hydrocarbons analysis, Hydrocarbons metabolism, Methane analysis, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxygen Consumption, Proteobacteria growth & development, Seawater chemistry, Environmental Pollution, Methane metabolism, Oxygen analysis, Petroleum, Proteobacteria metabolism, Seawater microbiology
- Abstract
Kessler et al. (Reports, 21 January 2011, p. 312) reported that methane released from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout, approximately 40% of the total hydrocarbon discharge, was consumed quantitatively by methanotrophic bacteria in Gulf of Mexico deep waters over a 4-month period. We find the evidence explicitly linking observed oxygen anomalies to methane consumption ambiguous and extension of these observations to hydrate-derived methane climate forcing premature.
- Published
- 2011
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