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22-mile-long oily plume found near BP well site
Study is first peer-reviewed look at ecosystem concern — and questions U.S. optimism

A giant plume of oily water — at least 22 miles long, more than a mile wide and 650 feet tall — was found near the blown-out BP well and some 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, scientists reported Thursday.

While other scientists earlier found evidence of plumes in the area, the new data is the first peer-reviewed study about oil lurking in the water. It's also the first to offer some details about the size and characteristics of a plume not only vast in size but which remained stable and intact during a 10-day survey last June.

Moreover, the study adds to the controversy over how much oil is still in the Gulf ecosystem from the spill. The U.S. government earlier this month estimated that 75 percent of the oil that spewed from the Macondo well had been skimmed, burned or broken up by chemical dispersants and natural microbes in the water.

The plume, which scientists said came from the busted Gulf well, shows the oil "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," lead researcher Rich Camilli said in a statement issued with the study. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded. Well, we didn’t find that. We found it was still there."

The first question that came to mind was how relevent is a study of an "oil plume" that was done in June, to what the situation is today.

My second question was what is the density of this "oil plume". I, like probably most people, had a mental image of a thick patch of oil suspended in the depths (probably exactly what the term was supposed to do). I then came to the end of the playing-on-fear article where it read, [quote]The collected water samples had no odor of oil and the plume is mostly water mixed with some hydrocarbons that include oil. "The plume was not a river of Hershey’s syrup," said Reddy. "But that’s not to say it isn’t harmful to the environment."

"oil plume" must have been a term conjured up by the usual politically motivated, lying environgelical crowd seeking to turn loose their inner fascist on the rest of us.

[b]Oil Plume From Spill Persists, Data Show [/b] This may help to explain oil plumes.

But oil from the ruptured well, broken down by sprays of chemical dispersants and held at depth by water pressure, has formed microscopic droplets not buoyant enough to break through the transition layer that separates warm surface currents from the cold bottom water, several experts said.