chris reddy, why don't you start by describing what it is you found. >> the last two weeks of june i went out on a research cruise and we plot... tracked a plume of oil that was about 22 miles long and about 1.2 miles wide. and it's amazing results because we all think oil floats. so why is there a plume? and certainly that was what we were investigating is why there s there a plume? but we first had to figure out if there was one because there was some conjecture at that time and we feel pretty confident that we've found, identified, and the shape and the size of the plume. >> brown: describe the plume. because from what i gather, it's not something one can see or feel. >> no, in fact, i collected most of the samples physically and looked at them. it looks like spring water. but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no... the level of chemicals isn't harmful. but it's certainly not hershey syrup. the concept of this rolling amounts of black death rolling through the middle of the ocean is... that's not what... visually what it is. it's just levels of oil compounds that are higher th

we take a closer look now, with: chris reddy, a marine geochemist at woods hole oceanographic institute and one of the authors of today's study on mapping the underwater plume. and david farenthold who's been covering this story for the "washington post." chris reddy, why don't you start by describing what it is you found. >> the lt two weeks of june i went out on a research cruise and we plot... tracked a plume of oil that was about 22 miles long and about 1.2 miles wide. and it's amazing results because we all think oil floats. so why is there a plume? and certainly that was what we were investigating is why there s there a plume? but we first had to figure out if there was one because there was some conjecture at that time and we feel pretty confident that we've found, identified, and the shape and the size of the plume. >> brown: describe the plume. because from what i gather, it's not something one can see or feel. >> no, in fact, i collected most of the samples physically and looked at them. it looks like spring water. but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no... the level of c