Articles tagged as: John Kessler
Study Shows 200,000 Tons of Oil and Gas from Deepwater Spill Eaten by Bacteria
Researchers from the University of Rochester and Texas A&M University have found that over a period of five months following the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, naturally occurring bacteria that exist in the Gulf of Mexico consumed and removed at least 200,000 tons of oil and natural gas that spewed into the deep Gulf from the ruptured well head.
The researchers analyzed an extensive data set to determine not only how much oil and gas was eaten by bacteria, but also how the characteristics of this feast changed with time.
“A significant amount of the oil and gas that was released was retained within the ocean water more than one-half mile below the sea surface. It appears that the hydrocarbon-eating bacteria did a good job of removing the majority of the material that was retained in these layers,” said co-author John Kessler of the University of Rochester.
The results, published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, include the first measurements of how the rate at which the bacteria ate the oil and gas changed as this disaster progressed, information that is fundamental to understanding both this spill and predicting the behavior of future spills.
Kessler noted, “Interestingly, the oil and gas consumption rate was correlated with the addition of dispersants at the wellhead. While there is still much to learn about the appropriateness of using dispersants in a natural ecosystem, our results suggest it made the released hydrocarbons more available to the native Gulf of Mexico microorganisms.”
Workers cleaning beaches from the 2010 Gulf oil spill
Their measurements show that the consumption of the oil and gas by bacteria in the deep Gulf had stopped by September 2010, five months after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
“It is unclear if this indicates that this great feast was over by this time or if the microorganisms were simply taking a break before they start on dessert and coffee,” said Kessler. “Our results suggest that some (about 40 percent) of the released hydrocarbons that once populated these layers still remained in the Gulf post-September 2010, so food was available for the feast to continue at some later time. But the location of those substances and whether they were biochemically transformed is unknown.”
Previous studies of the Deepwater Horizon spill had shown that the oil and gas were trapped in underwater layers, or “plumes,” and that the bacteria had begun consuming the oil and gas. By using a more extensive data set, the researchers were able to measure just how many tons of hydrocarbons released from the spill had been removed in the deep Gulf waters. The team’s research suggests that the majority of what once composed these large underwater plumes of oil and gas was eaten by the bacteria.
Kessler, recently appointed as associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester, worked with graduate research assistant Mengran Du at Texas A&M to analyze more than 1,300 profiles of oxygen dissolved in the Gulf of Mexico water, spanning a period of four months and covering nearly 30,000 square miles.
The researchers calculated how many tons of oil and gas had been consumed and at what rate by first measuring how much oxygen had been removed from the ocean.
Du explained that “when bacteria consume oil and gas, they use up oxygen and release carbon dioxide, just as humans do when we breathe. When bacteria die and decompose, that uses up still more oxygen. Both these processes remove oxygen from the water.”
Du added that it is this lower oxygen level that the researchers could measure and use as an indicator of how much oil and gas had been removed by microorganisms and at what rate.
The work was supported by the National Science Foundation with additional contributions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Sloan Foundation, BP/the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, and the Chinese Scholarship Council.
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About the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the university gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by its Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world’s leading research institutions, Texas A&M is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represents an annual investment of more than $700 million. That research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state, nation and world.
Media contact: Leonor Sierra, University of Rochester, at (585) 275-4118 or lsierra@ur.rochester.edu or Karen Riedel, Texas A&M College of Geosciences, at (979) 845-0910 or kriedel@tamu.edu
A Banner Year In 2011 — Academically And Athletically
Record enrollment, a new high in research investment, several major scholarly and scientific announcements and new facilities on the academic front and, athletically, national championships and a move to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) highlighted the year 2011 at Texas A&M University.
With their eyes on continued progress, university officials, faculty, staff and students revisited provisions of Vision 2020, the institution’s roadmap for attaining top-10 status among the nation’s public universities by the year 2020, from the perspective of assessing progress to date and fine-tuning priorities going forward.
Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin said 2011 was another good year for Texas A&M.
Students
Texas A&M's fall enrollment reached record levels this year, placing it in the top six institutions in the nation in terms of student body size.
“We’ve had some challenges — certainly fiscally, like all of higher education — but 2011 was another good year for our university, highlighted by new records in several key areas and significant progress in others,” Loftin observed. “We look forward to continued progress in 2012 and beyond as we pursue a culture of excellence and our Vision 2020 goals.”
Fall enrollment approached the 50,000 milestone, with the official 20th class-day total being a record 49,861, placing Texas A&M among the top six institutions nationally in student body size. The university’s branch campuses, Texas A&M University at Galveston and Texas A&M University at Qatar, also had record fall enrollments, with 2,058 and 473 students, respectively. The overall total for the university: 52,392.
Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets reported fall strength of 2,218, highest in the past 14 years, boosted by the largest number of freshmen since 1987.
Texas A&M not only has lots of students, it has lots of high-achieving students, many of whom are being recognized nationally for their accomplishments. Once again the university ranks among the top 10 institutions in enrollment of new National Merit Scholars — 177 this past fall, bringing the total number of National Merit Scholars currently on campus to approximately 500.
Among many Aggies being cited for their academic and service accomplishments, several stand out: Bianca Manago, who was selected both as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and as an alternate for the Marshall Scholarship; Ana Monzon, who won a Fulbright Program grant; Omar El-Hawagi, recipient of a Harry S. Truman Scholarship; and Matthew Grunewald, winner of a Goldwater Scholarship.
Rankings
Texas A&M continued to earn high rankings from several entities throughout the year.
The high quality of Texas A&M graduates continues to attract top companies to recruit on campus, with more than 3,000 sending “head-hunters” each year and job opportunities posted for Texas A&M students increased 95 percent for 2010-11 compared to 2009-10—from 4,600 to 9,100. The university fared well in a recent New York Times listing of what business leaders worldwide say are the top institutions from which they recruit. Texas A&M placed eighth among public U. S. universities and first among all public or private universities in the Southwest or deep South.
Texas A&M also continued to fare well in a variety of national surveys based on academic standing and costs of a college education. The latest, posted by a new online organization, TheBestColleges.org, ranks Texas A&M sixth nationally among public universities and first in Texas. The group’s editors say they base their ratings on weighted factors that focus on economic value, quality of life, academic quality and student satisfaction.
Research
The university’s annual investment in research totaled a record $689 million, which placed it among the top 20 institutions nationally, according to the National Science Foundation, and third among all universities that do not have medical schools within their administrative frameworks. The research included a broad array of studies and experiments, many of which have significant economic potential or address social or cultural needs.
One research project, for example, focuses on converting waste into biofuel, and another examines ways to more effectively address post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in troops who have been involved in combat, while still another resulted in the discovery of a topical HIV preventative that may soon enter into clinical trials. Other trailblazing studies involving Texas A&M faculty pushed back the generally accepted time of the arrival of the first people in North America and another shed new light on early man. Still others focused on the historic drought affecting large areas of the United States, clouds’ effect on climate change and the adverse effects of red tide and the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
The research findings of Asst. Prof. John Kessler of the Oceanography Department during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was cited earlier this month by Discover magazine as one of the publication’s “Top 100 Stories of 2011.” Texas A&M received similar recognition by Discover in 2010.
Facilities
The Agriculture and Life Sciences Building and the AgriLife Center were two of several campus construction projects completed in 2011.
The institution opened new facilities for its agricultural and engineering programs, providing additional space for classrooms and laboratories, along with the expanded and renovated YMCA Building, which provides additional office space for several departments, and a new facility for the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing. Also, a new intramural sports facility with adjacent playing fields for flag football, soccer and other activities was opened on the West Campus, supplementing existing facilities there and at the Student Recreation Center in support of the university’s intramural and club sports programs that are among the largest and best in the nation, officials note.
Additionally, work was completed on a $73 million state-of-art combined heating and power (CHP) system that officials say will provide millions of dollars in cost avoidance for energy needs and provide reliable power service for decades to come.
Several other facilities are in varying stages of construction or major expansion and renovation. They include the Memorial Student Center, set to open on April 21, 2012, a new five-story building for the College of Liberal Arts, additional facilities for the Department of Health and Kinesiology — giving the university its first indoor tennis capabilities — along with a major student housing project and new player development facilities for the varsity football program.
Additional information about construction and related endeavors is included in a campus update provided by Vice President for Administration Rodney McClendon.
In terms of far-reaching effects, the move to the SEC is being viewed as “profound,” not only for the university’s athletic program but also for the overall university from “national exposure” and branding perspectives. President Loftin called it a “100-year decision.”
Athletics
Texas A&M officially joined the Southeastern Conference in September.
The year 2011 was particularly rewarding for Texas A&M’s women’s basketball team, which won its first NCAA national championship, and for the men’s and women’s track teams that each won their third NCAA consecutive outdoor national championships, and for the equestrian team, which finished first nationally in western discipline competition. Additionally the baseball team earned its first trip since 1999 to the College World Series and is getting ready to play in the vastly expanded and upgraded Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Also, the men’s basketball team, the men’s and women’s golf and tennis teams, the soccer team, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, the softball team and volleyball team all earned the right to play in their respective NCAA post-season tournaments.
The football team, coming off the 2010 season as Big 12 South co-champions, began this year with an invitation to play in the Cotton Bowl against LSU, which is currently ranked first in the nation. The Aggies are now preparing for another bowl appearance, in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston Dec. 31, and gearing up for a new era under recently named Head Coach Kevin Sumlin.
This is the first calendar year in which all Aggie intercollegiate sport teams won opportunities to participate in NCAA post-season competition. Based on 2010 results, Texas A&M was announced this year as placing eighth in the Sports Directors’ Cup, which is sponsored by Learfield Sports to recognize the nation’s top overall athletic programs based on their teams’ final records and standings.
Other Activities
Other significant 2011 activities or endeavors by the university:
–Produced more than 11,000 graduates, with many of them entering the workforce and beginning careers and starting the process of becoming future leaders for the state and nation.
–Solidified its higher education leadership role in use of social media, by significantly helping “tell the Texas A&M story” directly to thousands of constituents, with the university now having more than 300,000 Facebook “friends” and almost 25,000 Twitter followers.
–Launched the “Aggie Owned and Operated” program to provide support for the more than 200,000 former students who are currently in the workforce, many of whom are proving themselves to be entrepreneurs.
–Initiated a new email newsletter, TAMUtimes, which is packed with institutional news and information and distributed twice weekly to more than 50,000 Aggies and others. TAMUtimes is available to anyone interested in keeping abreast of developments at Texas A&M — former students, friends of the university and other interested individuals. To subscribe, go to http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/.
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Media contact: Lane Stephenson, News & Information Services at (979) 845-4662
Texas A&M Oceanographer Kessler Named To Discover Top Stories Of 2011
Texas A&M University oceanographer John Kessler and his research findings during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have been named one of Discover Magazine’s “Top 100 Stories of 2011.”
Kessler and colleague David Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara, published their work last January in the journal Science, which showed that tiny bacteria residing in the Gulf of Mexico waters rapidly removed more than 120,000 metric tons of methane. Calling the results “extremely surprising,” Kessler explains that most hypotheses at the time were that methane would reside in the Gulf waters for years to come.
“The Deepwater Horizon disaster saw the release of many different oil and natural gas compounds of which methane was the dominant component,” he says.
“While our results indicate that nature helped clean up this disaster, that doesn’t mean we can be cavalier with how we treat the environment.”
Kessler acknowledges that “this discovery was made possible with an excellent team composed of professors as well as graduate and undergraduate students from UC Santa Barbara, Texas A&M, and Texas A&M-Galveston.”
Their work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through a contract with Consolidated Safety Services Inc. and the Department of Energy.
Last year, a news release about a Texas A&M biology researcher examining the male pipefish that gives birth was also named one of the Top 100 Discover stories.
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Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or John Kessler at (979) 845-5752 or Karen Riedel, College of Geosciences, at (979) 845-0910
