Leslie Smith – Page 25 – Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Aditya Aiyer (left) explains the Lagrangian dynamic Smagorinsky model that his team uses in their Large Eddy Simulations. (Provided by Aditya Aiyer)

Grad Student Aiyer Shows How Oil Droplets Evolve Under Deep-water Conditions

October 11, 2018

Oil, gases, and bubbles jet out together during a deep-ocean petroleum blowout, and the oil quickly breaks up into different-sized droplets. Predicting the sizes of these droplets is critical to determine how long it will take the oil to reach the ocean’s surface and the resulting oil slick’s size.

Education and outreach include a wide variety of activities. Students (left photo) proudly display the ROV that they built at the University of Georgia’s Ocean Discovery Camp 2018 (photo provided by ECOGIG). Members of a local Boy’s and Girl’s Club (top right photo) test ROVs that they built before they toured the R/V Endeavor as part of Worlds Ocean Day 2015 (photo provided by ECOGIG). Graduate student Alice Kleinhiuzen (bottom right photo) shows a marsh core to a public audience during a Boardwalk Talk series (photo provided by ACER).

Study Offers Recommendations for Developing Successful Scientific Outreach Programs

October 9, 2018

Outreach specialists working with science consortia, funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), reflected on their collective multi-year efforts for insights gained and lessons learned. These reflections resulted in recommendations for creating, managing, and implementing scientific outreach plans.

Long-term impacts of Deepwater Horizon oil spill the focus of UT Marine Science Institute research

October 5, 2018

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas are lending their expertise to this study, specifically looking at how oil impacts cardiac health in fish.

Grad Student Viamonte Puts Pressure on Microbial Oil Degradation

September 27, 2018

When the Deepwater Horizon incident occurred, not much was known about how conditions in the deep sea would affect oil biodegradation. Juan Viamonte uses high-pressure reactors that simulate conditions at depth to observe microbial degradation and help predict what might happen should another deep-ocean oil spill occur.

New Sea Grant Publication on Oysters and Oil Spills

September 25, 2018

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative is pleased to announce a new Sea Grant publication about how oysters, which play a critical role in a healthy coastal wetland, fare when faced with oil exposure. The outreach publication also discusses how the Deepwater Horizon incident and subsequent response efforts affected oysters, a vital part of Louisiana’s seafood industry which is the nation’s second-largest seafood supplier.

Kathryn Keating. (Provided by Kathryn Keating)

Grad Student Keating Surveys Children and Families for Long-Term Oil Spill Impacts

September 20, 2018

Following the Deepwater Horizon incident, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness surveyed households in highly-affected areas of Louisiana to track the event’s impacts on the physical and social health of coastal families and their communities.

Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) Gulf of Mexico. Credit: SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC

Study Shows Oil Exposure Not Likely to Reduce Fish’s Ability to Compensate for Hypoxia

September 18, 2018

Researchers conducted experiments on Atlantic Croaker to determine if oil-induced respiratory impairment affects the fish’s tolerance to hypoxia. There were no observed effects from the combined stressors (oil exposure and hypoxia) on fish’s average critical oxygen threshold levels or its capacity to withstand hypoxia.

Christopher Reddy. Photo credit: Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

AGU Honors Christopher Reddy with 2018 Ambassador Award

September 13, 2018

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative congratulates Dr. Christopher “Chris” Reddy for being honored with the 2018 American Geophysical Union’s Ambassador Award.

(Inset) Some of the study authors onboard a vessel used during their April 2017 field work (L-R Matthieu Le Hénaff, Oscar Garcia-Pineda, and Yannis Androulidakis). The larger picture shows oil moving in a current influenced by the Mississippi River plume. Photo by Oscar Garcia-Pineda.

Study Documents How Riverine Fronts Influence Oil Transport Pathways

September 11, 2018

Scientists used drifters, drones, satellite imagery, and air/water measurements to investigate how local and regional ocean processes in the Gulf of Mexico influence where surface oil from the leaking Taylor Energy Site travels.