Tiny bubbles in harbor a mini-mystery

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT HARBOR -- They’re coming up just off the stern of the Bonhomme

Richard, rising to the surface of the water like the effervescence in a

glass of Coca-Cola: small bubbles of gas emerging from the harbor bottom.

The boat, moored between the southern end of Lido Isle and the

northern edge of Bay Isle, is virtually surrounded by spots where gas

appears to be bubbling up. In a roughly circular area about 100 feet

across, the bottom is sending up stream after stream of gas.

Richard Jones, known to many residents as a wooden canoe craftsman,

said he started noticing the gas flows about four weeks ago. He doesn’t

know what made them start, but he knows that they give off a satisfying

pop when ignited with a cigarette lighter.

His favorite theory about their origin, which he seems to be advancing

in jest, is that a volcano is starting to poke up through Newport Harbor.

“We could have our own little Mount Saint Helens,” he said, looking

rather pleased about the idea.

Newport Beach Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff said the explanation for

the phenomenon is most likely somewhat less dramatic.

“All of Newport Harbor and most of Newport Beach is on a big,

gas-producing methane bed,” caused by decaying organic matter, he said.

“We have frequent calls from especially the West Newport area about a

[gas] smell coming out.”

Local water-quality watchdog Jack Skinner pointed out that the city

has small facilities for dealing with the naturally prevalent methane.

Near Hoag Hospital, he noted, a pair of towers draw methane from the

surrounding ground and burn it off to avoid dangerous accumulation of the

gas.

“It actually comes up from purification of organic material deep in

the soil, and it comes up right where the hospital is planning to build

more units,” he said.

Kiff said he didn’t think the probability of a volcano erupting in

Newport Harbor -- or anywhere else in this area -- was particularly high.

“We’re just lucky we don’t have more basements” in which natural gas

can collect, he said.