Hi Penny,
The first thing would be for someone at UCSB would determine if there was even anything unusual. It could have just been light onshore winds, and no change in the seeps. Then, the problem with the seeps is they could be affected by pressure changes related to production from the Ellwood field etc, although the most active seeps are some horizontal distance from production (unless that has changed in the last few years). My former thesis advisor heads up a big, long-term monitoring of the seeps, so I can ask him on Monday.
Chris