Tingting Tang presents her research on whale population recovery at the 2016 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem conference in Tampa. (Photo provided by Tang)

Grad Student Tang Studies Whale Populations’ Oil Spill Recovery

When disaster strikes, responders look at how creatures in its path may be impacted to mitigate damage. Tingting Tang takes the process one step further, using mathematical models to predict how long recovery may take. The creatures that Tingting focuses on are some of the Gulf of Mexico’s largest predators and most charismatic animals, beaked and sperm whales.

Read more

Drifters, Bamboo Plates Reveal Gulf Of Mexico Current Insights

In 2012, we watched as scientists with the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE), funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), launched hundreds of GPS-equipped drifters into the Gulf to track their movements. This was part of the Grand Lagrangian deployment, or GLAD, which was the largest of its kind ever at the time.

Read more
A Cuviers’ beaked whale. (Photo courtesy of Ocean Treasures Memorial Library)

Study Estimates Beaked Whale Populations in Gulf of Mexico

Scientists used passive acoustic monitoring during 2010-2013 to detect the presence of beaked whales in the Gulf of Mexico. These animals are difficult to study visually because they spend little time at the sea surface and are only present in offshore deep waters; they are rarely found on the continental shelf and near-shore waters.

Read more