VATIS UPDATE Article

In the water above natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, where oil and gas bubbles rise almost a mile to break at the surface. Scientists from three US institutions, the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), Columbia University (CU) and Florida State University (FSU) have discovered something unusual: phytoplankton, tiny microbes at the base of the marine food chain, are thriving.

According to a study, the oil itself does not appear to help the phytoplankton, but the low concentration of oil found above natural seeps isn’t killing them, and turbulence from the rising oil and gas bubbles is bringing up deep-water nutrients that phytoplankton need to grow. The result is phytoplankton concentrations above oil seeps that are as much as twice the size of populations only a few kilometers away.

The research shows that the effects of oil and gas at the sea surface can be very different from the impacts of events such as the Deepwater Horizon spill. The research could lead to a reconsideration of the response made to spills. The study is the first to demonstrate this kind of teleconnection between the sea floor, subsea floor and microbial processes in the upper ocean. It also provides insight into how microbes and oil interact under water.