The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is pleased to announce a new Sea Grant publication that provides helpful information about storms and oil spills. Oil and chemicals from damaged rigs and vessels can form slicks that can pollute marine and shoreline ecosystems.
Oil is a complex mixture of chemicals with different degradation behaviors and toxicity levels. Understanding how the compounds in spilled oil, particularly toxic compounds, change with weathering is important to predicting oil’s persistence in the environment.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Rear Admiral Kenneth “Ken” Eicher Barbor passed away on Sunday July 22, 2018 after battling cancer. Barbor served as Commander of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and was the Director of the International Hydrographic Bureau in Monaco. Barbor was also the founding Director of the Hydrographic Science Research Center at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).
Researchers compared long-term data from low-oxygen (hypoxia) studies to determine if the Deepwater Horizon incident affected the Gulf of Mexico seasonal hypoxic area.
The Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal published an article that gives readers a fascinating look at how scientists monitor the heartbeat, blood flow, and blood pressure of mahi-mahi before and after oil exposure.
Join the GRIIDC team! We are organizing and documenting data to promote a culture of open data and open science in the Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers conducted incubation experiments and examined the roles of temperature, nutrients, and initial bacterial community on oil biodegradation. Higher and lower temperatures yielded distinctly different bacterial community compositions, indicating that temperature is a key influencer of bacteria that respond when oil is present.
Degradation rates of oil were slower in the dark and cold waters of the depths of the Gulf of Mexico than at surface conditions, according to an international team of geoscientists trying to understand where the oil went during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Dr. John “Wes” Tunnell passed away on Saturday July 14, 2018 after battling cancer. Tunnell was a marine ecology and biology professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and an early orchestrator of the Harte Research Institute (HRI) for Gulf of Mexico studies.
Nearly 100 scientists and researchers, including taxonomic and bioinformatics specialists, representing forty academic and research institutions, participated in genomics workshops held at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.