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On the Hunt

April 20, 2014

WHOI marine chemistry and geochemistry department’s Bryan James scrapes oil off a rock on a Gulf Coast beach in 2013. The oil sample is one of about a thousand collected from the region since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill four years ago today that is part of WHOI marine chemist Chris Reddy’s oil repository library. After it is collected, the oil sample is catalogued in an online database that is free and accessible to the public and scientific community. Reddy and his team of researchers continue to collect and catalogue oil samples from Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana beaches to study how oil spilled in the environment weathers over time. (Photo by Mike McNulty, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)