Hydrocarbons off NC?

[bigeasy]

I have seen a phenomena off Hatteras a number of times. A large area of azure water will appear that is several hundred feet in diameter. It will slowly disappear. This has occurred near the Rockpile , the triple zeroes and the pictures here occured near the 130 line. The depth was 40 to 60 fathoms.

A civil engineer was on the bridge and witnessed this and in our conversation we concluded that the change in color was most likely due to aeration of the seawater due to eruption of natural gas from the seafloor. The color is much like that seen in the wake of a large ship.

Natural gas or methane is frequently found with other hydrocarbons. Are there other thoughts re this phenomenom?

[Sea Draggin]

Are there other thoughts re this phenomenom?

Whale pee


I think your right on with the natural gas. I think I heard something about natural gas deposits off our coast and if they can ever drill here, I think thats what they would be going for. But at the end of the day I'm a marketing guy/part time fisherman, not a scientist, so what do I know.

I'm still partial to the Whale pee explanation.

[000's]

It might as well be whale piss, because if it is anything to do with drilling or some kind of energy ,the whales might as well piss on it, the U.S. will not do anything with it, thats for sure..

[Dave Sikorski]

It might as well be whale piss, because if it is anything to do with drilling or some kind of energy ,the whales might as well piss on it, the U.S. will not do anything with it, thats for sure..

Sad but true

-D

[reel action]

could be a humongous whale fart....

[Bodie]

yeah i saw those about two weeks ago around the pan am just offshore of the rock. never caught anything around them so a few triggers in one but that was it. Neat looking felt like i was in the carribean when i trolled through them. I was told by a charter guy they call them sulfer spots (i think)

[flatbottom]

here is a vertical velocity script. I believe you can back up to the dates adjacent with your pics.

LINK

[flatbottom]

here is the link to the rest of the experimental products you tax dollars pay for

LINK

[Glenn W]

Cliff,
Capt. Brian Harrington of the Run Off (MHC) saw the same thing a year or so and was amased by it. As I recall, it was about the same size as you describe and I think I remember someone got a piture of it. As I recall they were some where in the 700's or so.

[FishHeadGear]

There was an interesting special on the Discovery channel about the possibility of methane releases in the "Bermuda Triangle" area that could have been the cause for the sinking of ships and downing of air planes. The methane would relsease in huge amounts and bubble up. Below is an explanation from wikepdia. We see those patches down here in the gulf sometimes, but we are fishing around rigs that do have air releases sometimes. Personally, I like the whale fart explanation!

From Wikepdia:

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water[22]; any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.
A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.[23] However, according to a USGS web page, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years