Where did the Deepwater Horizon oil go?

the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill released around 200 million gallons of oil making it the biggest accidental marine spill in america's history one of the most common questions people ask is where did the oil go in 2010 a group of scientists developed an oil budget calculator to estimate what happened to the oil and to provide a status update to the spill response managers it was a complicated undertaking as oil is made up of many chemicals each of which reacts and behaves differently in the environment some oil was retrieved at the wellhead skimmed burned and chemically dispersed by responders a portion settled on the seafloor at the surface some oil either naturally evaporated or dispersed and dissolved in recent years scientists discovered that oil on the water's surface also interacted with sunlight this interaction transformed many of the chemicals in the oil and influenced how it moved through the environment the rest of the oil is unaccounted for when marine spills happen physical processes such as ocean tidal and wind currents distribute oil throughout ocean and coastal habitats which is what happened to surface oil from deepwater horizon some of it eventually landed on shore the oil impacted over 1300 miles of the gulf of mexico's 3500 mile coastline 64 percent of those oiled shores occurred in louisiana mostly in its marshes scientists predicted this might occur based on previous oil spills however the surface oil slick and its impact on shore are only part of the story the deepwater horizon wellhead was located 5000 feet below the water's surface leaking oil for 87 days this is the first time emergency responders have dealt with a spill in such great depths approximately one month after the spill began scientists found evidence of an oil plume in the deep ocean called the subsurface plume the plume was a deep sea layer composed of tiny oil droplets and dissolved oil and gas it moved with subsea currents parallel to the seafloor in the deep underwater environment scientists both collected and chemically tested water samples using the autonomous underwater vehicle called sentry using this sophisticated technology scientists determined that the plume was located between water depths of three thousand to four thousand feet was more than twenty two miles in length and lasted for several months after the oil spill the deep water horizon spill was also notable because it was the first time dispersant was used at death and for the amount of dispersant applied dispersants are chemicals used during oil spill response efforts to break up oil slicks into small droplets of oil promoting dilution and breakdown of the oil by bacteria and other microscopic organisms this helps limit impacts to sensitive ecosystems in total 1.84 million gallons of dispersants were used at the water surface and in the deep sea additionally during the deep water horizon spill scientists learned that marine snow trapped the oil and dispersants carrying it downward to the deep sea floor where it accumulated marine snow is a formation of sticky particles that may contain tiny algae microbes mucous web-like threads pieces of small decaying animals feces and other organic matter that may carry oil-based compounds from the surface waters to the bottom and water depths in between the oil that fell to the ocean floor left a footprint stretching out around 770 square miles impacting coral and other seafloor communities oil in these deeper colder dark areas breaks down very slowly and life here grows slowly too so experts expect it will take a long time to see recovery though the deep sea is the most challenging habitat to study scientists will continue to monitor these areas to better understand the deep sea environment and the impacts oil spills can have there scientists continue to study where did the oil go after the deep water horizon and the related question of what happened to it in the environment

Channel: Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant

Views: 51,521

Keywords: Sea Grant, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Macondo, oil spills, Gulf of Mexico, dispersants, oil spill science

Id: vj5_TCSobU0

Length: 4min 25sec (265 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2020