Researchers analyzed remote sensing imagery to assess oil slicks near the Taylor Energy platform, which was damaged by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, and determined how environmental conditions affected the slicks’ distributions.
Scientists completed the first time-series study (2007-2016) of Gulf of Mexico deep-sea fishes and their exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) following Deepwater Horizon.
Scientists analyzed spectral images of surface oil slicks and proposed a new method to determine oil distribution and thickness when high resolution imagery is not available.
The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is pleased to announce the Marine Technology Society Journal special issue, Advancing Oil Spill Technology: Beyond the Horizon (Volume 52, Number 6, November/December 2018).
Researchers examined the isotopic composition of single-celled organisms (foraminifera) in seafloor sediment for evidence of the documented marine oil snow event that followed Deepwater Horizon.
A new study of the Deepwater Horizon response showed that massive quantities of chemically engineered dispersants injected at the wellhead — roughly 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) beneath the surface — were unrelated to the formation of the massive deepwater oil plume.
An international science team studying oil spill effects on marine ecosystems completed 12 research expeditions over seven years and produced the first fisheries-independent, multinational Gulf-wide fish survey.
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.
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.