Scientists monitoring events in the Gulf of Mexico around the recent devastating oil spill have discovered some very disturbing news that could spell disaster for the Gulf Coast. Extremely high methane levels exceeding a million times higher than normal levels were discovered by scientists on a recent expedition to the Gulf. These levels are so troubling for a number of reasons including the fact that such high levels of methane could deplete the water of the essential oxygen that it needs to support life creating a massive dead zone in the Gulf.

A team of scientists from Texas A & M University spent 10 days in the Gulf of Mexico testing the waters within a five mile radius of the well where the oil spill is originating from. The abnormal amounts of methane found ranged from those that were 100,000 times higher to over a million times larger than normal concentrations of methane found above ground. The team, which included 12 crew members, took samples from both the surface waters as well as deep water samples and found that some areas already had oxygen depletion as high as 30 %.

Methane results in oxygen depletion of the waters because it encourages the growth of particular types of microbes which gather at the water's surface blocking out the sunlight. By preventing the sunlight from reaching into the deeper parts of the water the cycle of photosynthesis, which creates the oxygen, is then blocked. This is of grave concern because not only does the local marine life depend upon these waters, but the ocean is also responsible for providing most of the world's oxygen supply.

With the collapsed oil well gushing over 60,000 barrels of oil into the gulf every single day, this problem can only get worse and the full extent of the damage could be much greater than anyone can calculate at this time.

The team returned on Tuesday with other data that they collected during this 10 day research expedition and not all of the results have been analyzed as of yet. They estimate that it will take up to a week to get the results back from several of the tests and are hopeful that those results will provide additional information to give us a more accurate picture of the extent of this disaster.

As the world watches this disaster unfold as proof that there is no safe way for us to drill for and consume oil or other fossil fuels, oil companies anxious to boost their profits and recover losses are still pushing for even more drilling; a move that is considered unconscionable and reckless by many who are outraged by such proposals given that we do not even know the full extent of the damage caused by the worst environmental disaster on record. This should be serving as a wake up call for us to press forward to a better, cleaner, more sustainable age and leave the dirty and deadly era of fossil fuels behind us.