LSU Resources - Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
LSU School of the Coast and Environment Offers Footage of Hydrate Formation
Process is smaller-scale version of the oil spill containment unit’s freezing
Faculty in the LSU School of the Coast and Environment, Robert Carney and Harry Roberts, have provided footage of hydrate formation, which is the process that stopped BP’s giant containment unit from being lowered over the oil flow in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The video was shot on one of the many cruises/dives that Harry [Roberts] and I have had since 1989. We are probably about 500 meters deep, which is about the upper edge of the hydrate stability zone,” said Carney, professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences. “As you can see, methane bubbles ‘freeze’ only when you slow or stop them. Left as a free bubble, they shoot away and dissolve.”
The footage is available to media for use with proper credit, which should appear as follows: credit to Robert Carney, Harry Roberts, LSU School of Coast and Environment.
Page updated: May 12, 2010 10:03 AM
