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Environment

Oil Plume In The Gulf

September 13, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 37

About the same time the Aug. 23 issue of C&EN arrived, my copy of the Aug. 13 issue of Science (2010, 329) did as well. It also had an article on the plume of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, on page 734. The following is an excerpt:

“Perhaps the most muddled calculation involves the fraction of oil that went into the dreaded subsurface plumes. The media ‘created an image of an underwater river of oil,’ says Steven Murawski, NOAA’s chief scientist for fisheries in Silver Spring, Maryland, who is overseeing spill science for NOAA. ‘In a glass, [plume water] looks like clear seawater.’ He says that measurements of oil reveal a principal plume confined to depths of 1000 meters to 1300 meters that in spots contained 1 to 2 parts per million of oil (1 or 2 milliliters in a cubic meter of seawater). Most parts of the plume, however, had lower concentrations; farther than 10 kilometers from the wellhead, concentrations were in the parts-per-billion range.”

When I read my copy of C&EN, I expect scientific objectivity and all the facts. Your article (Aug. 23, page 11) appears to have sensationalized as badly as the popular media. Since crude from the Gulf is generally of low density, a river of oil is highly unlikely.

Mike McHenry
Washington, N.J.

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