The cruise will allow the scientists to collect water column and sediment samples at Macondo impacted sites, other anthropogenically impacted sites, natural hydrocarbon seeps and control sites to track Macondo impacts and compare the processes observed in Macondo-influenced areas to natural seeps and control sites.
Three organizations with ties to Louisiana are among 12 research groups sharing $140 million in grants to conduct scientific studies on the effects of oil, dispersed oil and dispersants on the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem and on public health.
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.
A team of scientists led by the University of Georgia’s Samantha Joye will spend much of April deep underwater, surveying the ocean floor around the Deepwater Horizon blowout that discharged roughly 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
A team of scientists led by University of Georgia marine biologist Samantha Joye will spend most of April using the deepsea submarine Alvin to study the mile-deep seafloor near the site of BP’s ill-fated Macondo well