Mystery Blob Leaves Scientists Puzzled

July 22, 2009 -- A huge mat of oily goo caught everyone by surprise when it showed up off the shore of Wainwright, Alaska nearly two weeks ago. Since then, the mysteries have only deepened.

Preliminary testing showed that the goo was made of algae, even though it looked like an oil spill.

Yet, scientists still don't know what type of algae it is or where it came from. They don't know if it's dangerous to fish or other underwater life, nor do they know what chances are of something like this happening again anytime soon.

The list of mysteries is loaded with questions about whether the incident is related to climate change, pollution or simply a result of natural processes.

"We're still at the formative stages of looking at this and the practical issues, like what is it and what caused it," said Raymond RaLonde, an aquaculture specialist at the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.

The first news of the incident came from indigenous subsistence hunters on the morning of July 10, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Terry Hasenauer.

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"Initial reports indicated that it was a substance that resembled heavy oil, crude oil or intermediate fuel oil," Hasenauer told Discovery News.

Investigations, however, revealed that there hadn't been any large ships in the area for more than a week, and there were no wrecks nearby. Still, the Coast Guard responded as they normally do to oil spills: by sending out two pollution investigators to fly over the blob and to approach it by boat.

Dispelling rumors that the substance was 30 miles long, the Coast Guard estimated its size as 13 miles by a quarter of a mile. It was floating about half a mile offshore. The blob was amorphous, Hasenauer added, broken up into globules and sections, and constantly changing shape.

The Coast Guard gathered samples and brought them back to Anchorage. When scientists observed the samples through a microscope, they immediately concluded that the goo was made of algae, not fuel.

"When we made the determination that it wasn't an oil and was some sort of other marine organism, people were shocked," Hasenauer said. "The Coast Guard and other environmental agencies and the locals all said they hadn't seen anything quite like that before."