UC scientist floats idea on gauging amount of oil spilling into gulf - Los Angeles Times

The oil is dense with methane gas that dissolves in water and can be measured empirically. From that figure the volume of oil could be derived, UC Santa Barbara geochemist David Valentine says in the British journal Nature.

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A Santa Barbara scientist has proposed computing the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but by measuring its cousin, natural gas, which is spewing into the gulf along with it. In an article published in the British journal Nature this week, UC Santa Barbara geochemist David Valentine said that dragging gas sensors through the waters near the spill could provide data on how much methane is lurking in the ocean. From that figure, the volume of oil could be derived, he said.

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