March 6, 2013 – CALIFORNIA - Authorities say a foul odor that spurred calls to fire departments throughout the city on Sunday is possibly the result of the large release of methane in the Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica Fire said in a department statement that they believe the strong odor was caused by a naturally occurring methane leak below the ocean floor. “This morning there was a large release of natural ocean floor methane released in the Santa Monica Bay,” the statement said. Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department, said the odor was noted inland from the Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica fire haz-mat crews detected rather unusual concentrations of odorless methane gas in the air that they believed to be coming from either a patch of pungent algae, or a sulfurous gas-laced methane bubble, said a dispatcher. That may night be the case; however. Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the Air Quality Management District (AQMD), said his agency has not confirmed the Santa Monica Fire Department’s theory. Authorities said that recent changes in water temperature may have caused plankton and algae beds to bloom, releasing methane just below the surface. The gas also might have been produced by a geologic event, such as a shift in tectonic plates. Officials believe either a pocket of stinky algae, or a bubble of methane laced with sulfurous gas, surfaced in the ocean. -ENE News
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