This summer we have colleagues visiting from the Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) in Germany to jointly conduct field work off Santa Barbara. It is our goal to test whether methanotrophic microbes are transported by methane bubbles from the sediment into the water column. The Santa Barbara methane seep area is an ideal research target as it has shallow (SCUBA dive accessible) seeps. The team is lead by Oliver Schmale. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation. My group  at UCLA and Ira Leifer (Bubbleology Research International, Santa Barbara) support the project. Watch our video to get a feeling for the science: https://vimeo.com/229619743