Oil Spills
WHOI Unveils Website on its Role in Gulf Oil Spill Research
One year after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is unveiling a new multimedia website, Science in a Time of Crisis.
Read MoreOil Spill Pioneers
Science in a Time of Crisis Part 1: Oil Spill Pioneers On Sept. 16, 1969, the barge Florida ran aground…
Read MoreSearching for the Plume
Science in a Time of Crisis Part 4: Searching for the Plume Almost as soon as the spill began, speculation…
Read MoreHow Much Oil?
Science in a Time of Crisis Part 2: How Much Oil? One of the most important questions arising from the…
Read MoreTracking the Currents
Concern about the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill centered on the northern Gulf of Mexico, but some feared…
Read MoreAssessing the Impacts
Science in a Time of Crisis Part 6: Assessing the Impacts Soon after the Deepwater Horizon blowout, scientists began exploring…
Read MoreOil, Microbes, and the Risk of Dead Zones
In the scramble to get to the Gulf of Mexico to study the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Ben Van Mooy…
Read MoreDoes Oil Affect Animals’ Cellular Machinery?
Ann Tarrant has a soft spot for a tiny, tentacled creature. So what if starlet anemones (Nematostella vectensis) are spineless…
Read MoreGliders Tracked Potential for Oil to Reach the East Coast
In the initial days of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a spotlight shone on a little-known watery cog in the ocean’s…
Read MoreAfter the Oil Spill, Finding a Drop in the Ocean
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April, marine chemist Elizabeth Kujawinski recognized that a technique she had…
Read MoreFirst Study of Dispersants in Gulf Spill Suggests a Prolonged Deepwater Fate
To combat last year?s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied.
Read MoreNational Deep Submergence Facility Vehicles Assist in Response to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The U.S. National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) has had a growing and important role in the ocean science community’s response…
Read MoreWHOI Website Will Take Viewers Deep into the Gulf
It may take years before scientists determine the full impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But, utilizing the human-occupied submersible Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, researchers are about to investigate?and view first-hand?the possible effects of the spill at the bottom of the Gulf. And, from Dec. 6-14, the mission will be relayed to the public as it happens on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution?s (WHOI) Dive and Discover website (http://divediscover.whoi.edu).
Read MoreTracking a Trail of Oil Droplets
In the days after oil began gushing from the Deepwater Horizon well, scientists sought quick information on where the oil…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Map and Confirm Origin of Large, Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) detected and characterized a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The work presents a forensic snapshot of the plume characteristics in June and is reported in a study appearing in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Science.
Read MoreWHOI Science Mission to Study Deepwater Horizon Spill Using Mass Spectrometry and AUV Sentry
A multidisciplinary team of investigators from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution embarked June 17 on a twelve-day research effort in the…
Read MoreWHOI Participates in Meeting Aimed at Finding Solutions to Control or Stop Oil Spill
On June 1, 2010, members of the staff of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) participated in a meeting at…
Read MoreOversight Hearing on “Ocean Science and Data Limits in a Time of Crisis: Do NOAA and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have the Resources to Respond?”
June 15, 2010 Christopher M. Reddy, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 15th, 2010—Subcommittee…
Read MoreWHOI Joins Consortium to Study, Minimize Effects of Gulf Oil Spill
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is partnering with two Louisiana institutions to determine the myriad impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and to devise and implement possible solutions to the disaster.
Read MoreHearing On “The BP Oil Spill: Human Exposure and Environmental Fate”
Christopher M. Reddy, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 10, 2010 Introduction Good afternoon…
Read MoreTestimony on Acoustic Technology for Determining Oil Spill Size
Richard Camilli, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 19, 2010 Introduction Good afternoon…
Read MoreWhile Oil Gently Seeps from the Seafloor
I investigate what happens to oil spilled into the ocean—with an eye toward finding better ways to “engineer” cleanups. But…
Read MoreNatural Petroleum Seeps Release Equivalent of 8-80 Exxon Valdez Oil Spills
A new study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is…
Read MoreHearing on Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of a Commercial Vessel
Christopher Reddy, Associate Scientist Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 12, 2008 Introduction Good morning Chairperson…
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