Oil Spills

Deep Water Horizon. (Cabell Davis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Oil in the Ocean
The systematic study of oil in the ocean is relatively new to science, but since the late 1960s it has grown to encompass almost every area of oceanography.
Because oil is not a single substance, scientists face a number of challenges when it enters an environment as complex as the ocean. Crude oil and many refined petroleum products are a complex mixture of hundreds of chemicals, each one with a distinct set of behaviors and potential effects when released into the marine environment. Some of these substances differ only in the location or orientation of a single carbon atom on a long molecular chain involving dozens of atoms.
Despite this, even chemicals with nearly the same molecular structure can behave very differently once they enter the water, atmosphere, sediments, or an organism. As a result, scientists who study oil in marine settings often say that every spill is different and find that they must ask a unique set of questions every time they focus on a new location or event.
News & Insights
What happens to natural gas in the ocean?
WHOI marine chemist Chris Reddy weighs in on a methane leak in the Baltic Sea
Forged in fire: WHOI recalls the Deepwater Horizon crisis
It’s been a decade since the explosion of the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Frontline WHOI scientists face unprecedented challenges when called to respond to the largest accidental oil spill in history.
Fifty years later, the West Falmouth oil spill yields lasting contributions to remediation efforts
After 175,000 gallons of oil spilled from a barge that ran aground along West Falmouth Harbor, the contaminant has all but disappeared, save a small marsh inlet that continues to serve as a living laboratory for scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Rapid Response at Sea
As sea ice continues to melt in the Arctic and oil exploration expands in the region, the possibility of an oil spill occurring under ice is higher than ever. To help first responders cope with oil trapped under ice, ocean engineers are developing undersea vehicles that can map oil spills to improve situational awareness and decision making during an emergency.
Five Years After Deepwater Horizon: Improvements and Challenges in Prevention and Response
April 29, 2015 Christopher M. Reddy, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution April 29, 2014—U.S. Senate Committee on Science, Commerce & Transportation Salutation Chairman Thune…
News Releases
Dissolving oil in a sunlit sea
What did scientists learn from Deepwater Horizon?
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WHOI in the News
How do we deal with oil spills in the future?
Oil is more likely to stick around in a cold, sunny ocean
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From Oceanus Magazine
The ocean currents behind Brazil’s pollution problem
South America’s largest country reckons with both history and ocean currents in a recent spree of pollution
Sunlight and the fate of oil at sea
Danielle Haas Freeman draws on the language of chemistry to solve an oil spill puzzle
A toxic double whammy for sea anemones
Exposure to both oil and sunlight can be harmful to sea anemones
WHOI scientists discuss the chemistry behind Sri Lanka’s flaming plastic spill
Eight months after the M/V X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka, WHOI investigators talk about their research on the unique chemistry of the spilled plastic nurdles
Oil spill response beneath the ice
Successful test deployment of WHOI vehicle Polaris expands U.S. Coast Guard response to oil spills in the Arctic