根據(jù)最近公布的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查結(jié)果，在對(duì)墨西哥灣“深水地平線”鉆井平臺(tái)石油泄漏成功封堵后的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)微生物基本上吞噬掉了泄漏的甲烷，在四個(gè)月內(nèi)把海水所含的甲烷含量降到了漏油事件前的水平。

Follow-up cruises in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was plugged found that microorganisms consumed all of the excess methane, reducing levels to background within about four months of the start of the spill, according to findings published recently.
　　
“真是讓人吃驚，”課題研究的帶頭人，得克薩斯大學(xué)的約翰·凱瑟勒在《科學(xué)》雜志上這樣寫(xiě)道，“我們本來(lái)是認(rèn)為仍舊有很多泄漏出來(lái)的甲烷在那里的，可事實(shí)是甲烷都消失了?！?/div>
　　
“It was remarkable," said John Kessler of Texas A&M University in College Station, lead author of the study, in Science. "We had gone out there assuming that there would be plenty of methane still there and the fact was that it was all gone."
　　
甲烷吞噬微生物在科學(xué)已知的微生物族群里是占比最大的。團(tuán)隊(duì)探測(cè)到的氧氣水平只能解釋為甲烷的完全的被吞噬。這樣的證據(jù)證實(shí)了是微生物使得泄漏的甲烷消失的。凱瑟勒說(shuō)。“對(duì)于原油泄漏來(lái)說(shuō)，這消息不錯(cuò)”，特別是甲烷是“深水地平線”鉆井平臺(tái)泄漏原油的最大組成部分。
　　
Methane-consuming microbes comprised the highest proportion researchers had ever seen in the overall microbial community, and the oxygen levels the team measured could only be explained by complete consumption of the methane. This evidence supported the idea that it was microbes that made the methane disappear, Kessler said."For the oil spill, it was a rather good story," he said, especially since methane was the largest component of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
　　
海面以下有大量的甲烷，一種就可以含有所有陸地的化石燃料兩倍的碳。比如說(shuō)煤炭，石油和天然氣，包括永遠(yuǎn)也不可能開(kāi)采的那部分。甲烷是一種強(qiáng)有力的溫室氣體，是二氧化碳對(duì)溫度升高效果的25倍。
　　
There are massive amounts of undersea methane. One type alone may hold double the carbon of all of the terrestrial fossil fuel, such as coal, oil and natural gas, including stores that could never be recovered. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, contributing 25 times more toward warming than carbon dioxide, kilogram for kilogram over a century.
　　
凱瑟勒表示，在地質(zhì)學(xué)歷史上水下的甲烷釋放曾發(fā)生過(guò)，有時(shí)是噴發(fā)，有時(shí)是千萬(wàn)年地絲絲泄漏。并且氣象學(xué)家已經(jīng)表示一種大量的水下和甲烷結(jié)合的物質(zhì)——像冰一樣的被稱(chēng)為“可燃冰”，會(huì)隨著大洋的變暖而變得可能融化而泄漏。
　　
Underwater methane releases have occurred in geologic history, sometimes as big burps of gas and sometimes as seeps lasting hundreds or thousands of years, Kessler said. Also, climate scientists have suggested that releases of vast stores of one type of water-associated methane -- an ice-like form called methane clathrate -- could happen as warming oceans allow some of these to melt.
　　
盡管團(tuán)隊(duì)的發(fā)現(xiàn)表明甲烷吞噬微生物有潛在的吞噬大量泄漏的甲烷的可能?！暗俏覀儾豢赡馨堰@條規(guī)律應(yīng)用到整個(gè)世界”。
　　
While the team's findings suggest that methane-chomping microorganisms have the potential to consume large quantities of released methane, "We can't generalize these findings to the greater planet," he said.