Grad Student Mullane Puts Oil-Degrading Microbes Under Enormous Pressure
There are currently over 30 active deep-sea drilling platforms and more than 600 areas where oil naturally seeps from the Gulf of Mexico seafloor.
There are currently over 30 active deep-sea drilling platforms and more than 600 areas where oil naturally seeps from the Gulf of Mexico seafloor.
Eight years after Deepwater Horizon, we reflect on the extraordinary establishment of the largest coordinated scientific endeavor around an ocean event – the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) – to understand, respond to, and mitigate impacts from this and future oil spills.
Bryan Hamilton never planned to be a microbiologist, but when the opportunity arose to study microbes that produce biosurfactant in response to oil exposure, he was drawn in completely.
Nihar Deb Adhikary uses his veterinary training and microbiology research to better understand the connections between oil fate, microbial degradation, and sediment-dwelling organisms such as shrimp and clams.
During the Deepwater Horizon incident, both oil and methane entered the surrounding marine environment from the Macondo reservoir. Scientists are investigating the released methane’s effects on deep-sea ecosystems.
Scientists studying oil spill impacts in the Gulf of Mexico are sharing their exciting ocean research with citizens of all ages.
From March-December 2010 during ten research cruises covering over 105,000 square kilometers, scientists documented the fate and dynamics of Deepwater Horizon methane emissions around the blowout site.
In this digital multimedia age, scientists with the Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems (C-IMAGE) are taking their work to the public via a series of podcasts, bringing their research to life in a way that traditional print media never could.