Much of the methane released by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout hung around until the end of that year. In a new study of data collected in the months after the spill, scientists report that the numbers of methane-munching microbes plummeted while the gas was still abundant. The result contradicts an earlier report, which suggested that the bacteria rapidly got rid of the seawater’s methane.
After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, 2010, a huge plume of pressurized oil and gas poured into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists estimate that 80 percent of the gas was methane (SN 7/23/2011); bacteria that eat methane soon showed up for a feast. In mid-August 2010, just over a month after the gushing well was capped, researchers found methane concentrations in Gulf waters similar to amounts naturally released from the sea floor. The team concluded in 2011 that microbes had mopped up most of the spilled gas.