80beats: News Aggregates of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

[bystander]

04 June 2010: “Top Cap” Installed on BP Oil Leak; Effectiveness Remains to Be Seen

[bystander]

Ocean currents likely to carry oil along Atlantic coast
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) - 03 June 2010

A detailed computer modeling study released today indicates that oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and open ocean as early as this summer. The modeling results are captured in a series of dramatic animations produced by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and collaborators.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-1G_47 ... r_embedded[/youtube]

This animation shows one scenario of how oil released at the location of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico may move in the upper 65 feet of the ocean. This is not a forecast, but rather, it illustrates a likely dispersal pathway of the oil for roughly four months following the spill. It assumes oil spilling continuously from April 20 to June 20. The colors represent a dilution factor ranging from red (most concentrated) to beige (most diluted).

The simulations do not make any assumptions about the daily rate or total amount of oil spilled and the dilution factor does not attempt to estimate the actual barrels of oil at any spot. Instead, one unit per day of a liquid "dye tracer" is injected in the model at the spill site (injected continuously over the period April 20 through June 20). The animation shows possible scenarios of what might happen to dye released in the upper 65 feet of ocean at the spill site. The dilution factor depicts how dye released at the site of the spill will be progressively diluted as it is transported and mixed by ocean currents. For example, areas showing a dilution factor of 0.01 would have one-hundredth the concentration of oil present at the spill site.

The animation is based on a computer model simulation, using a virtual dye, that assumes weather and current conditions similar to those that occur in a typical year. It is one of a set of six scenarios released today (animations and still images) that simulate possible pathways the oil might take under a variety of oceanic conditions. Each of the six scenarios shows the same overall movement of oil through the Gulf to the Atlantic and up the East Coast. However, the timing and fine-scale details differ, depending on the details of the ocean currents in the Gulf. (Visualization by Tim Scheitlin and Mary Haley, NCAR; based on model simulations.) [Download high-resolution video]

[bystander]

Meet the Oil-Covered Pelicans, Symbols of the BP Oil Spill
Discovery Blogs | 80beats | 07 June 2010

]

We have learned of top caps, top kills, junk shots, and dome plans. We have seen President Obama “furious,” standing on the Louisiana shore. Last week, we saw pictures of the immediate victims of the BP oil spill, the Gulf marine life. Pictures that many believe will endure as symbols of the entire spill.

Adding to the impact, the brown pelican is Louisiana’s state bird, and was only recently removed from the endangered species list.
... [The Independent]
But these images, including now famous photographs by AP Photographer Charlie Riedel, affect those who have never set foot in Louisiana.
... [New York Times]
Some argue that the images took so long to surface because BP wanted them hidden, orchestrating any official spill tours as to avoid such sights.
... [Daily News]
There are images of hope, such as this video of the most fortunate birds getting bathed before relocation to wildlife sanctuaries away from the spill. But some fear that even birds saved from danger will later attempt a return to their destroyed homes.
... [Los Angeles Times]

BP sucking up half of oil leaking from Gulf well
PhysOrg | Environment - 07 June 2010

Engineers hoped Monday to make more headway in their bid to contain a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after energy giant BP announced it was now capturing about half of the oil gushing from its ruptured well.

BP buys 'oil spill' sponsored links for search engines
New Scientist | Short Sharp Science | 07 June 2010

As daily clean-up costs to BP spiral to $37 million per day and its chief executive is vilified in the press, the company is trying to fight back - by buying search terms.

So each time someone enters a relevant query - say "oil spill" - into a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, their results also include a paid-for link from BP. Typically, these sponsored links sit above the genuine results.

Studies of the effectiveness of sponsored links suggests perhaps as many as 30 per cent of people will head to their marketing material.

BP must hope that its marketing campaign to stem criticism produces results faster than its efforts to stop the leak. It has been suggested that the media coverage is more damaging than the slick.

[bystander]

Oil Spill Update: The President Gets Feisty, the Cleanup Will Take Years
Discovery Blogs | 80beats | 08 June 2010

If we’re lucky, BP’s relief wells will be done in August and the company’s all-time blunder will stop leaking. But even it that happens, the Coast Guard now concedes, it will take years to clean up this disaster.

Oil from BP spill found 40 nautical miles away
PhysOrg | Environment | 08 June 2010

Scientists have confirmed the spread of oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill more than 40 nautical miles from the disaster site and at a depth of 3,300 feet, a top US official said Tuesday.

Gulf oil leak causing upheaval in marine ecology
New Scientist | Environment | 08 June 2010

As oil continues to leak out of the collapsed Deepwater Horizon well head, researchers are beginning to collect data on how it is changing life in the Gulf of Mexico.

[neufer]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colber ... brit-creek

[bystander]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colber ... brit-creek

So, what are you trying to say? Your daughter is responsible? Of course, Dawn!

[neufer]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colber ... brit-creek

So, what are you trying to say? Your daughter is responsible? Of course, Dawn!

Dawn is spotless.

[bystander]

Should We Just Euthanize the Gulf’s Oil-Soaked Birds?
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 10 June 2010

People have now recovered nearly 500 oiled-but-alive birds from the Gulf region. Many of these are the brown pelicans, which—adding insult to tragedy—is Louisiana’s state bird. They have become grimy symbols of BP’s catastrophe, and responders are racing to save the birds and clean them.

But increasingly, the disheartening but necessary question has arisen: Should we euthanize them instead of trying to save them?

Up to 40,000-plus barrels per day pouring into Gulf
PhysOrg | Environment | 10 June 2010

As much as 40,000-plus barrels of oil per day are pouring from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, a US official said Thursday, more than doubling the previous government estimate.

No Progress on Better Chemicals for Oil Disaster Cleanup
Wired Science | 10 June 2010

Almost three weeks after federal orders to find less toxic chemicals to break up oil in the Gulf of Mexico, no progress has been made.

The same dispersant chemicals are still being used. BP barely tried to test an alternative, and the EPA’s own testing results on the toxicity and effectiveness of alternatives are slow in coming. Experts say the tests will only provide a bare minimum of data, far less than they’d like for managing the unprecedented use of dispersants. Nothing is clear, except that too little is known.

Oil Disaster Shows Need for Endangered Species Act Overhaul
Wired Science | 10 June 2010

Of the many regulatory problems that helped make the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster possible, the Endangered Species Act’s shortcomings have received little attention — but fixing its flaws and loopholes could help prevent future catastrophes.

Oil companies never considered the impacts of a massive spill on the Gulf’s sperm whales or five sea turtle species. They didn’t have to, because the law doesn’t require it.

“We need to include disaster planning in the Endangered Species Act consultation process,” said environmental lawyer Keith Rizzardi. “We can learn from experience.”

Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico
NASA Earth Observatory | 12 June 2010

Click to view full size image

download large image (11 MB, JPEG) | View all images of this event

On June 12, 2010, oil from the still-leaking Deepwater Horizon well was particularly visible across the northern Gulf of Mexico when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image at 1:55 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Oil appears to have reached beaches and barrier islands in Alabama and the western Panhandle of Florida.

Close to the location of the well, the oil appears gray, but to the northeast, it is bright silver. The increased brightness does not necessarily mean the oil is thicker or more concentrated there; it may simply be that the oil is located in the sunglint region of the image—the spot where the Sun’s reflection would appear if the water surface was as perfectly smooth as a mirror.

Scientists Locate Oil Plume Extending Toward Dry Tortugas
UM/CIMAS | NOAA/AOML | 12 June 2010

High tech tools, top-notch science and serendipity play part in finding 23-mile long plume off Florida’s Treasure Coast

A team of dedicated South Florida researchers from the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (UM/CIMAS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/AOML) were determined to check on whether oil was, as predicted, being pulled into the Loop Current and carried toward the Dry Tortugas.

Gulf Loop Current ferrying spilled oil towards Florida Keys
ars technica | 14 June 2010

The University of Miami is announcing that a research cruise sponsored by the National Science Foundation has discovered that a large oil plume originating from the Deepwater Horizon site is heading for the Dry Tortugas. These islands, preserved as part of a US national park, reside just to the west of the Florida Keys. Should the oil make it that far, it will almost certainly find its way into the Atlantic Ocean.

The flow of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon has been difficult to track, since the source is on the sea floor, while oil's buoyancy will cause it to move towards the surface. On its way there, it will encounter different currents at various depths. The currents in the Gulf are dominated by what's called the Loop Current, which enters the Gulf between Cuba and the Yucatan. What happens next can vary considerably.

Depending on a variety of factors, the Loop can extend well north in a large clockwise sweep through the Gulf before exiting into the Atlantic near the Florida Keys. At other points, this loop pinches off into an independent vortex as the main current heads directly for the Atlantic. The precise configuration of these currents will strongly influence the flow of oil as it's released from the well, and thus help control where the largest environmental impacts will be.

Oil Comes to Louisiana Beaches in Thick, Noxious Tar Balls
Discover Blogs | Visual Science | 14 June 2010

Oil coated aluminum can, Louisiana, 6/5/10

Click to view full size image

Oil balls encrusted with shells, Louisiana, 6/5/10

Click to view full size image

Oil and shell, Louisiana, 6/5/10

Click to view full size image

Marsh grass coated with oil, Louisiana, 6/5/10

Click to view full size image

Oil on bamboo, Louisiana, 6/5/10

Click to view full size image

All images Nathaniel Welch / Redux Pictures

After the scale of the BP oil spill in the Gulf became evident, Photographer Nathaniel Welch went to Venice, Louisiana, to see what had become of his favorite fishing grounds. He used artificial light to capture these objects as he found them on the beach. Welch: “Ryan Lambert of Cajun Fishing Adventures took me out on his boat to some outer islands near Grande Isle, LA, where the majority of oil was starting to come ashore. As we got close to the island on the backside, we started to see an oil slick in the bay, not thick black oil, just a sheen on the water, too subtle to photograph, but you could smell it. We pulled up on the back of the island, got out, and walked out onto the beach on the front of the island. Big gooey tar balls were on the beach and also coating everything from old beer cans to marsh vegetation. There was an eerie absence of wildlife.

I’ve been going down to Venice, Louisiana for years to fish. I’ve fished offshore for the pelagics like tuna and marlin, and I’ve fished inshore in the marshes for coastal species like trout and redfish. It’s an understatement to say the fishing is exceptional. It is ironic that when fishing offshore there, the oil rigs are the fishing destination and that’s where we would set up. The fish congregate underneath and around the rigs, as the small bait fish use it for protection.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that there are 35 National Wildlife Refuges that line the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida that are currently at risk from the BP oil spill. These refuges are home to dozens of threatened and endangered species, including West Indian manatees, whooping cranes, Mississippi sandhill cranes, wood storks, and four species of sea turtles. “This spill is significant, and in all likelihood will affect fish and wildlife resources in the Gulf—and across the North American Continent—for years, if not decades, to come,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan Gould in a recent teleconference.

[bystander]

Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

The dynamic nature of the BP oil spill has been a challenge for a range of communities – from hotel operators to fishermen to local community leaders. We know the American people have questions about how the federal government is responding to this crisis, and we are committed to providing the answers with clarity and transparency. The site you’re viewing right now is a symbol of that commitment.

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse is a new online tool that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. Developed by NOAA with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior, the site offers you a “one-stop shop” for spill response information.

The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill’s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources — such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships — into one customizable interactive map.

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) a web-based GIS platform developed by NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center. ERMA was designed to facilitate communication and coordination among a variety of users — from federal, state and local responders to local community leaders and the public. The site was designed to be fast and user-friendly, and we plan to keep it constantly updated.

The mapping tool includes only those vessels equipped with the automatic identification system and therefore is not representative of all the vessels supporting the largest oil spill response and recovery operation in U.S. history.

Click the map below to use the tool yourself and see the latest information about the oil spill’s trajectory, shipping information, fishery closures and where responders are taking action.

[bystander]

USGS Responds to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Note: We will be continually updating this page as more information is made available.

The USGS continues to mobilize equipment and personnel to gather scientific data and information on the environmental impacts of the oil spill to affected coastal habitats.

USGS scientists will be:

• Collecting satellite imagery to assess the impact on wetlands and coasts
• Developing maps showing NOAA projections of spill trajectory with respect to DOI Lands
• Collecting samples to ascertain source and levels of toxicity to soils and water systems
• Conducting tests to determine cause of mortality of wildlife
• Developing models that depict how local tidal and current conditions will interact with seafloor bathymetry to carry oil over barrier islands
• Providing decision support tools to help DOI land managers mitigate the effects of the oil spill and assist in restoration efforts

[bystander]

Estimating How Much Oil The Gulf Spill Released
PhysOrg | Environment | 14 June 2010

Official government estimates now say that around 27,000 barrels of oil per day have been pouring out of the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico since the leak began. This estimate comes from the report of the Flow Rate Technical Group, a team of scientists from various government agencies and academia assembled by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen to come up with definitive figures for the Gulf oil spill. BP says that approximately 15,000 barrels per day are being captured by a cap placed on the pipe.

Day 57: Updated figures show oil from spill could have powered 68,000 cars for year
PhysOrg | Environment | 15 June 2010

By day 57 (June 15), if all the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico had been used for fuel, it could have powered 68,000 cars, and 6,100 trucks, and 3,100 ships for a full year, according to University of Delaware Prof. James J. Corbett, who updates the numbers daily on his website.

BP to Kevin Costner: We’ll Take 32 of Your Oil Clean-up Machines
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 15 June 2010

Can Kevin Costner’s centrifuge–a device to separate oil from water at up to 200 gallons per minute–clean up the Deep Horizon spill? We reported on Costner’s clean-up gadget back in May when he convinced the Coast Guard and BP to test his technology, and now comes news that BP has ordered 32 of Costner’s devices to try out in the Gulf.

It sure makes for easy reporting; Costner’s handsome mug is certainly more appealing than oil-soaked sea life. But what are the actual chances that the actor’s device will work? Costner seems to recognize how implausible it all sounds:

Swiss firm touts oil-absorbing fabric for US oil spill
PhysOrg | Environment | 15 June 2010

A Swiss company which produces an oil absorbing fabric said Tuesday that it had received a visit from US officials, as it claimed that it could help tackle the Gulf of Mexico oil slick.

Slick Models Suggest 'It's Anyone's Guess' When Oil Will Reach Atlantic
Science Insider | 16 June 2010

As the gulf oil spill grows, scientists here are refining models of the slick's behavior in hopes of developing a more accurate picture of its future movements. They are keeping a close eye on a particular eddy that could determine when the oil might reach the Atlantic Ocean.

The scientists are focusing on the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current, which brings water from the gulf around Florida and up the Atlantic Coast. In early June, oceanographer Synte Peacock of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other scientists released several simulations of the way the slick might interact with the current. An eddy roughly 70 miles wide has spun off in the past few weeks from the current, roughly 100 miles west of the southern tip of Florida, Peacock told reporters yesterday, adding that it now shows a slight reattachment. (Looking at 17 years of data, Peacock saw similar behavior only twice, in 1998 and 2003.)

The modeling suggests that when the key eddy remained connected to the current, water from the gulf reaches the Atlantic in roughly 70 days. When it disconnects, it can take 4 to 6 months . "It's anyone's guess how the eddy will behave," says Peacock, who calls its behavior "highly unpredictable."

Peacock says there's "clearly some" oil in the Loop Current already. That oil, she noted, could be pulled from the gulf around Florida if the eddy were to recombine with the rest of the current's structure.

For more on the gulf oil spill, see our full coverage.

Obama Raises Profile of Gulf Restoration in Primetime Speech
Science Insider | 16 June 2010

Scientists know that the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon well is just the latest affliction for coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico. So they were pleased when President Barack Obama last night pledged a new, long-term effort aimed at repairing what he called "decades of environmental damage" to the region. "I see this as a real opportunity," says Denise Reed, a coastal geomorphologist at the University of New Orleans.

No details have been released, but the effort will likely build on an interagency effort that the White House Council on Environmental Quality began in March. The goal is to create a "road map" and vision next year for how federal agencies should be restoring the wetlands.

BP’s ‘Nightmare’ Well: Internal Documents Uncover Negligence
Wired Science | 17 June 2010

In an e-mail written six days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, a BP engineer called the well a “nightmare.” The e-mail was released Monday by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and it’s one of many company documents describing the risky, cost-cutting decisions that preceded the disaster.

“This has been a nightmare well which has everyone all over the place,” wrote BP engineer Brian Morel to a colleague. Morel wanted the company to use a “liner,” or sheath around the well that would keep gas from surging up the pipes and possibly exploding.

One such surge caused the Deepwater Horizon to temporarily shut down in early April, but BP opted against installing the liner, which would have cost an extra $7 million to $10 million.

“BP appears to have made multiple decisions for economic reasons that increased the danger of a catastrophic well failure,” wrote committee chairs Henry Waxman (D-California) and Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) in a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward. “In several instances, these decisions appear to violate industry guidelines and were made despite warnings from BP’s own personnel and its contractors. In effect, it appears that BP repeatedly chose risky procedures in order to reduce costs and save time.”

In addition to BP’s decision not to use a liner, the committee’s letter describes four other examples of risky negligence.
...
The full list of documents is located on the House committee’s website. BP’s Hayward testifies before the panel Thursday.

Obama’s Speech on the Oil Spill: What Do You Think of His “Battle Plan”?
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 17 June 2010

Last night, President Obama made his first Oval Office speech. In it, he described the BP oil spill as an assault on “our shores and our citizens” and outlined his “battle plan.” He discussed the immediate cleanup of the spill, the repayment he’ll insist on from BP for harm done, and the future of U.S. energy.
...
Here are some of the major points covered in the speech:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh76oepK ... r_embedded[/youtube]

Immediate Clean-up

Obama started by discussing BP’s current efforts to stop the leak and assuring the public that the company’s work will soon pay off. Obama wasn’t specific on how the company will finally stop the oil flow, but only said that the company will use “additional equipment and technology.”
...
How BP Will Repay Victims

Though he didn’t specify an amount, the president also wants to put aside BP funds (The New York Times reports that Senate Democrats have called for $20 billion) in an account managed by a “third party” to fairly distribute to victims. BP has confirmed a meeting with the president at the White House today, in which this escrow account will be discussed.
...
Relationship Between Companies and Watchdogs

He spoke of earlier efforts to clean up corrupt relationships between big companies, like BP, and the agency meant to monitor them–the Minerals Management Service (MMS) within the Department of the Interior. Obama said his administration began cleaning out the MMS when he took office:
...
A Green Energy Future?

He also spoke of a need to adopt greener energy sources and described our slow transition to these energy sources compared to China, for example.
...
Some have criticized Obama for not being more specific; others hope that his speech will incite change after the clean-up.

Researchers can't predict long-term Deepwater impact on ocean
ars technica | Nobel Intent | 17 June 2010

As oil continues to flow into the gulf of Mexico from the exploded Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, people are beginning to wonder what the effects of the spill will be in both the long and short term. Unfortunately, many scientists, even experts in the field, have precious little in the way of answers. According to a recent panel at the World Science Festival, given how much we use the ocean, we aren't learning about it nearly fast enough.

The marine researchers on the panel lamented our lack of knowledge about the ocean's natural state, which keeps us from tracing the effects of even large and relatively common disasters like oil spills, often leaving us uncertain about why certain reefs or species are dying or becoming overpopulated. The panel only had guesses as to what will happen, and expressed hope that the most recent spill will be an impetus to learn more about the ocean's ecosystems, not only to understand human effects but to develop ways to protect the habitats.

Clean-up of oil spill may cause long-term damage
New Scientist | Environment | 17 June 2010

Handle with care. That's the advice of coastal ecologists and geologists to those who are planning the clean-up of the Gulf ecosystems threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Louisiana's ecologically important but fast-eroding marshes, which serve as nurseries for commercially important shrimp and fish, are the main worry. In such a sensitive habitat, removing the oil can do more harm than good. When the tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground off France's Brittany coast in 1978, clean-up teams attempted to save the Ile Grande salt marsh by removing oiled sediments. This was held responsible for the subsequent accelerated erosion of the marsh and the delay in vegetation recovery.

That mistake won't be repeated. But "there are few options for dealing with the oil that have no adverse consequences", warns Denise Reed, a specialist in coastal restoration at the University of New Orleans. Just treading on a marsh can push oil deep into the sediment, and the alternative, vacuuming oil off the marsh from boats, is not always possible.

Even benign-sounding proposals like spraying nutrients to boost oil-munching bacteria can be damaging. When Eugene Turner of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge added phosphorus to plots in a Louisiana salt marsh, it reduced the growth of roots of the dominant grass, Spartina alterniflora, undermining the integrity of the marsh (Estuaries and Coasts, vol 31, p 326).

Plans to build sand berms on islands along the Louisiana coast are another concern. Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, believes the berms can keep oil from reaching the marshes, but not everyone is convinced. The $350-million project "was conceived without any serious consultation with the scientific community", says John Day, of Louisiana State University. "It almost certainly won't work."

Plans to build 206 kilometres of berms on the islands were met with concern by federal agencies. The islands are key nesting grounds for shore birds, including terns and brown pelicans, and agencies urged for limited construction during nesting season. But on 27 May, the US Army Corps of Engineers issued an emergency permit to build 72 kilometres of berms. Construction could start this week, during nesting season. Even this shrunken plan worries coastal geologists. Sand is scarce in Louisiana, and that used for the berms "is going to get oiled, and they are going to have to throw it away", says Joseph Kelley of the University of Maine in Orono.

Greg Stone of Louisiana State University supports building up the islands, but worries about dredging sand too close to them. Waves increase in energy over dredged areas, he says, which accelerates erosion. Careful studies are needed before work starts, he says, "to make sure we are not running into a very dark alley".

The berms will be about 90 metres wide at the base and will rise 2 metres. Birds that feed at the water's edge will have a tough time, as they won't be able to reach their normal feeding grounds, says Kim Withers of Texas A&M University in College Station. But the oil could have even worse effects, she adds. "It's almost a lose-lose situation."

The grim situation caused by the Deepwater spill makes for uneasy alliances and strained silences. One normally vocal advocacy group didn't want to say anything, and another person, speaking off the record, noted "an air of repression".

Gulf Oil Spill: Mississippi River Hydrology May Help Reduce Oil Onshore
National Science Foundation (PR 10-101) | 17 June 2010

Scientists tracking wetland characteristics find potential good news

The Gulf of Mexico: what role will the Mississippi River play in oil washing ashore and into delta wetlands?

Mississippi River hydrology may hold a possible answer for protecting fragile Gulf wetlands. (USGS)

---

One of the spill's greatest environmental threats is to Louisiana's wetlands, scientists believe.

But there may be good news ahead.

Scientists affiliated with the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center headquartered at the University of Minnesota, are using long-term field plots in Louisiana's Wax Lake Delta to measure the baseline conditions of, and track the effects of the oil spill on, coastal Louisiana wetlands.

Robert Twilley and Guerry Holm of Louisiana State University (LSU) are investigating the degree to which two delta wetland characteristics may help mitigate oil contamination.

Fresh water head, as it's called, the slope of the water's surface from a river delta to the sea, and residence time of river-mouth wetlands, the time it takes water to move through a wetland at a river's mouth, are important to understanding how delta wetlands will respond to the oil spill, say the researchers.

"Since the Mississippi River is currently at a relatively high stage, we expect the river's high volume of freshwater to act as a hydrologic barrier, keeping oil from moving into the Wax Lake Delta from the sea," says Twilley.

Twilley and Holm are performing baseline and damage assessments on the plants and soils of, and comparing oil degradation processes in, freshwater and saltwater Louisiana wetlands.

"The Mississippi River's 'plumbing' provides a potential benefit to reducing the movement of oil onshore from shelf waters," says Twilley.

The Mississippi's flow has been altered for flood control to protect people and infrastructure in this working delta.

River diversion structures--concrete gates built within the levees of the river--may be operated, however, to allow water to flow to specific coastal basins and floodways, says Twilley, "as a way to provide controlled floods."

The operational features of this system "downriver to the control structure near Venice, Louisiana," he says, "may provide a second line of defense against oil washing in."

But any strategy using Mississippi River hydrology must be one of clear options and tradeoffs, says H. Richard Lane, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences, which funds NCED.

"As the river stage falls and protection diminishes," says Lane, "it becomes a question of how best to distribute this freshwater resource to defend the coast from the movement of oil onshore."

Initial Fibertect Field Test a Success
Texas Tech University | 18 June 2010

The nonwoven cotton absorbent wipe would be a perfect remediation tool for use by oil spill cleaning crews.

A preliminary test of Fibertect® on the soiled beaches of Grand Isle, La., has proven it successful at picking up the oily paste washing ashore at beaches and marshes across the Gulf State region.

Seshadri Ramkumar, an associate professor of nonwoven technologies, said the Texas Tech-created nonwoven cotton absorbent wipe with activated carbon core makes it a perfect remediation tool for use by cleaning crews trying to remove the toxic material.

Not only did it clean up the rust-colored crude oil, but also it adsorbed toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon vapors reportedly sickening oil spill clean-up crew members.

[The Code]

News update:

Is bp about to sell off billions of pounds worth of assets? <<-- that's better.

Oh Dear.

Edit:
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article218010.ece
http://blogs.news.sky.com/kleinman/Post ... 7a6addbeb4


tc

[bystander]

From Marsh Grass to Manatees: The Next Wave of Life Endangered by BP’s Oil
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 21 June 2010

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Brown pelicans smothered by BP’s oil spill may be the symbols of sadness for the disaster in the Gulf, but they are, of course, far from the only animals affected. Marine scientists are watching other species for signs of danger.

Whales | Late last week, scientists spotted the first dead whale seen in the Gulf since the leak began gushing oil in April. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found a 25-foot-long sperm whale washed up, and now it is testing the sea creature for cause of death. ... [New Orleans Times-Picayune]

Manatees | So far, it at least appears that manatees have been spared toxic exposure to the ever-growing oil spill. However, a science team hunkered down at Dauphin Island in Alabama—in the path of the oil—say their luck may not hold. ... [The New York Times]

The Little Guys | Large animals produce devastating pictures during a disaster like the BP oil spill. But those large creatures rely on something far less visible to us—the small creatures and plants at the bottom of the food chain—and those might be the most vulnerable of all to the oil, according to ecologist John Caruso. ... [LiveScience]

Coral | We just don’t know. There are deep water coral living more than 1,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf, but scientists at the moment can’t say how they’re doing. First, they haven’t been able to go there. Second, they don’t have a good model, according to Erik Cordes, who studied deep water coral in Australia. ... [Discovery News]

As for the oil leak itself: Late last week BP said its siphoning operation was collecting in excess of 25,000 barrels of oil per day. There’s still plenty they’re not getting: The total flow is now between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. As BP’s relief wells approach their targets, the company says it will be bringing in more tankers to increase its capture capacity to 80,000 by using four ships and two separate pipes.

If you want more fuel for anger, check out the lengthy investigation in yesterday’s New York Times about what BP, its contractors, and the government knew about the weakness of the blowout preventer and other failed systems.

Will Methane Gas in Gulf Waters Create a Massive Dead Zone?
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 24 June 2010

Credit: NASA and the MODIS Rapid Response Team

Perhaps it’s a disservice to continue calling the oil pouring into the Gulf a spill. “Spill” makes it hard to conceptualize the estimated 60,000 barrels of oil per day blasting up from a well more than 5,000 feet below sea level. It also makes it difficult to picture how, as BP estimates, as much as 40 percent of the material “spilling” is methane gas. That methane has been largely overshadowed by the horror of oil-soaked pelicans and tar balls washing ashore, but now a survey, completed on Monday, has measured how the methane has spread.

What’s the problem with methane? The microbes that feed off it. It can create “methane seep ecosystems”–shallow food chains that eat crude oil and dissolved methane and in the process consume all available oxygen, leaving nothing for other marine life forms. Bacteria eat the methane and “ice worms” (so-called because they live around ice-like methane hydrate) eat bacteria, but nothing else eats these worms. This creates a “dead zone.” ... [San Francisco Chronicle]

John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanography professor, finished a ten-day exploration of the spill earlier this week, measuring levels of dissolved methane around 4,500 feet under the water’s surface from 35 different sites, the furthest seven miles from the spill. ... [USA Today]

Kessler’s team also measured the levels of oxygen depletion–the sign that microbes are feeding on the methane. These numbers varied. ... [Reuters]

We’ll have to wait for further results to see if the dissolved methane is indeed fueling a new dead zone in the Gulf. As Science Insider reports, Kessler and David Valentine, an oceanographer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, also hope that measuring the dissolved methane may be a way to quantify the extent of the spreading oil.

Is Louisiana’s Oil-Blocking Sand Berm Project Doomed?
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 25 June 2010

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Build a wall of sand: That was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s answer to protecting the state’s delicate marshlands when it became clear that BP wasn’t going to stop its gushing oil leak anytime soon. But now the federal government has put the kibosh on Louisiana’s construction, saying that the project to save one ecologically sensitive area will ruin another. ... [ScienceNOW]

However, that didn’t happen. Louisiana officials said they couldn’t get the pipes built in time, and asked the feds to let them dredge near Chandeleur at least until the other site was ready. OK, the Interior Department said—you’ve got a week. That week has lapsed, but Louisiana is still requesting more time to dredge near Chandeleur, promising to return the sand once the berm project has done its job.

That didn’t impress Tom Strickland, the Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He says dredging more material puts the already-eroding Chandeleurs (in the Breton National Wildlife Refuge east of the Mississippi) at too much risk. ... [BusinessWeek]

Even if you put the sand back there once you’re done with it, he says, it won’t be packed in or bonded like it was before, and might be washed away more easily.

The feds’ sudden outburst of concern failed to impress the already frustrated Gov. Jindal. ... [CNN]

The Science of the Oil Spill | Science | AAAS

NSF Awards Rapid Response Grant to Study Microbes' Natural Degradation of Oil
NSF: Gulf Oil Spill | 21 May 2010

Do manufactured dispersants interfere with microbes' natural oil-dispersing ability?

To understand how the use of dispersants impacts the degradation of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a rapid response grant to scientist David Valentine of the University of California at Santa Barbara and colleagues.

The massive release of oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident on April 20, 2010, has led to an unprecedented use of oil dispersants, which include a mix of surfactant compounds designed to dissolve oil and to prevent slick formation.

NSF Awards Rapid Response Grant to Study Impact of Oil and Methane on Microbes
NSF: Gulf Oil Spill | 02 June 2010

Scientists investigate oil and methane gas introduced by spill into deep, cold waters of Gulf of Mexico

To examine the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on microbes in the waters and sediments near the spill site, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a rapid response grant to marine scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia (UGA) and colleagues.

NSF: Mississippi River Hydrology May Help Reduce Oil Onshore
NSF: Gulf Oil Spill | 17 June 2010

Scientists tracking wetland characteristics find potential good news

Scientists affiliated with the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center headquartered at the University of Minnesota, are using long-term field plots in Louisiana's Wax Lake Delta to measure the baseline conditions of, and track the effects of the oil spill on, coastal Louisiana wetlands.

Robert Twilley and Guerry Holm of Louisiana State University (LSU) are investigating the degree to which two delta wetland characteristics may help mitigate oil contamination.

NSF: Research Mission Studies Oil Spill Using Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and Mass Spectrometry
NSF: Gulf Oil Spill | 22 June 2010

Project to characterize subsurface oil plumes in the Gulf using latest technologies

To characterize subsurface oil plumes in the Gulf using novel technology and the latest in biogeochemical techniques, a team of scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) embarked on June 17 for a 12-day research effort in the Gulf of Mexico.

Aboard the research vessel (R/V) Endeavor, they are conducting projects funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s rapid response program.

The research should help answer questions about the fate of oil released into the water, examining the physical extent, chemical composition and biological impact of subsea plumes.

NSF Awards Rapid Response Grant to Study Oil Found on Alabama, North Florida Beaches
NSF: Gulf Oil Spill | 25 June 2010

Scientists track "beach-fall" of tar balls along more than 99 miles of beach on the northern Gulf coast

The first determination of "beach-fall" of oil along the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches has been made, say National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded geologists at the University of South Florida (USF).

Ping Wang and USF graduate students Mark Horwitz, Tiffany Roberts, Katherine Brustche and Jun Cheng report that tar balls have been found along 160 kilometers (more than 99 miles) of the overall 180 kilometers (nearly 112 miles) of beaches the team studied.

[bystander]

Anxious monitoring near Florida coral reefs for oil spill
PhysOrg | Environment | 20 June 2010

This undated University of Miami image shows Gorgonian Corals in the Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida. The coral reefs stretching beyond the Key West islands at the tip of Florida are the third largest in the world behind Australia and Belize and a mecca for divers and fishing enthusiasts from around the world.

A team of scientists and divers for 20 days has been monitoring the world's third largest coral reefs at Florida's Dry Tortugas islands for signs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Verdict: so far, so good. ©2010 AFP

Oil spill stirs study, debate over health impacts
PhysOrg | Environment | 21 June 2010

In this June 6, 2010 file photo, Beachgoers watch booming operations in Perdido Pass in Orange Beach, Ala. Alabama booming operations are being ramped up with oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster hitting the coast. When an Associated Press reporter went scuba diving in the oil-streaked Gulf of Mexico this month, people commenting on websites worried about his health. But at the same time, the oil sure didn't bother some beachgoers in Alabama. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

When an Associated Press reporter went scuba diving in the oil-streaked Gulf of Mexico this month, people commenting on websites worried about his health. But at the same time, the oil sure didn't bother some beachgoers in Alabama. ©2010 AP

BP says $2 billion spent on US oil spill
PhysOrg | Environment | 21 June 2010

Oil pools in Barataria Bay near Grand Isle, Louisiana. BP has revealed it has so far spent $2 billion on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis, after an internal BP document suggested the undersea gusher might be spewing far faster than initially feared.

BP revealed Monday it has so far spent two billion dollars on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, after an internal BP document suggested the gusher might be spewing far faster than initially feared. ©2010 AFP

BP removes oil cap after submarine crash
PhysOrg | Environment | 23 June 2010

The containment system capturing oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill had to be removed Wednesday, leaving crude gushing unchecked, after a collision involving a robotic submarine, US officials said. "We had an incident earlier today, they noticed that there was some kind of a gas rising," said Admiral Thad Allen, pictured on June 17, the US official coordinating the response to the disaster.

Oil gushed unchecked Wednesday from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico after BP's containment system was removed for repairs following a submarine crash, US officials said. ©2010 AFP

Researchers Consider Impact of Active Hurricane Season on Gulf Oil Spill
PhysOrg | Environment | 24 June 2010

The different appearances of oil in a June 7 NASA satellite image. Image credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response/Holli Riebeek

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society based at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty campus issued its forecast for an "active to extremely active" June to November hurricane season in the Atlantic region this year, raising concerns about how major storms could complicate efforts to clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ©2010 PhysOrg

Florida closes down oil-stained Pensacola beaches
PhysOrg | Environment | 24 June 2010

A great blue heron stands on an oil containment boom that is being used to protect the beach area from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 7 in Pensacola, Florida. Oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill reached the white sands of Pensacola in north-eastern Florida, forcing local authorities Thursday to close down area beaches to swimming at the height of summer.

Oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill reached the white sands of Pensacola in north-eastern Florida, forcing local authorities Thursday to close down area beaches to swimming at the height of summer. ©2010 AFP

Biomedical scientist concerned about effects of oil spill on human health
PhysOrg | Environment | 24 June 2010

University of Rhode Island Pharmacy Professor Bongsup Cho knows there are cancer-causing chemicals in diesel fumes and cigarette smoke. Provided by University of Rhode Island

Can Whales and Dolphins Adapt to Oily Gulf?
PhysOrg | Environment | 25 June 2010

Click to view full size image

This NASA satellite image shows oil reaching Alabama beaches and the Florida panhandle.

The dead sperm whale found this week in the Gulf of Mexico puts the spotlight on how the BP oil spill will affect this endangered mammal, along with other cetaceans, such as dolphins, that must break the oil-slicked surface to breathe. ©2010 PhysOrg

BP reattaches cap, but oil closes Florida beaches
PhysOrg | Environment | 25 June 2010

[img]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/ ... pelica.jpg[/img]

An oil-covered brown pelican is seen in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Multi-billion dollar oil giant BP has resumed full siphoning operations from the ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well, but Florida has been forced to close down popular tourist beaches at the height of the summer season as more crude washed ashore from the damaged BP-run oil facility.

BP resumed full siphoning operations from the ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well , but Florida was forced to close down popular tourist beaches at the height of the summer season as more crude washed ashore. ©2010 AFP

Little spent on oil spill cleanup technology
PhysOrg | Environment | 26 June 2010

SCAT team leader Ivor van Heerdenon, left, climbs off a boat on East Timbalier Island, La., Wednesday, June 23, 2010. Heerdenon is part of a Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Team surveying the shorelines along the Louisiana coast for oil impact from the Deepwater Horizon incident. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

While oil companies have spent billions of dollars to drill deeper and farther out to sea, relatively little money and research have gone into finding new, improved ways to respond to oil spills in deepsea conditions like those in the Gulf of Mexico. ©2010 AP

As Oil Spill Grows, So Does Need For Data On Health Effects
PhysOrg | Environment | 26 June 2010

NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Gulf of Mexico on April 25, 2010 using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. With the Mississippi Delta on the left, the silvery swirling oil slick from the April 20 explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform is highly visible. The rig was located roughly 50 miles southeast of the coast of Louisiana. Credit: NASA.gov

Since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, spewing untold millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup crews have been working feverishly to mop up oil at sea and prevent the slick from reaching Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida shores. It’s hot, dirty, heroic work, but toxicologists and health professionals say it’s not the only work that needs to be done. Source: Inside Science News Service

Storm theatens Gulf of Mexico oil spill clean-up
PhysOrg | Environment | 26 June 2010

An aerial view of the Chandeleur islands, on June 23, in the Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of Louisiana. Oil recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico could face the season's first tropical storm Saturday, with bad weather spreading a huge oil slick that has already closed beaches in Florida.

Potentially dangerous Tropical Storm Alex, which experts say could complicate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill clean-up, has formed in the Caribbean Sea, US forecasters said on Saturday. ©2010 AFP

[bystander]

NASA Earth Observatory: Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico
NASA Earth Observatory: Hurricane Alex

Discover Blogs | 80beats | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Oil Spill Update: Tropical Storm, Backup Plan, & Deliberately Flooding Farmland | 29 June 2010

Hurricane predictors warned us this season could be a bad one, and could bring unknown consequences for the ongoing BP oil spill. We may soon find out what those consequences are, as Tropical Storm Alex moves toward the Gulf and may reach hurricane status today.

More Delays: Supposing Alex reaches the spill, it might not be all bad. ... [AP]

Backups for Backups: Speaking of the relief wells, they’re getting closer. The New York Times reports that the first has drawn within 1,000 vertical feet of intercepting the well, and the second is right behind. But since the relief well was a backup plan to all the other efforts that failed, BP’s Kent Wells says the company is now developing a backup to its backup, lest that fail as well. ... [The New York Times]

Wanted: Bird Habitat. Will Pay. While BP crafts another in its long line of possible solutions, the federal government came up with an answer of its own to the oiled bird problem: If they’re running out of oil-free habitat, we’ll just create more habitat. Under a program called the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative, the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will pay farmers to flood some of their fields. ... [Los Angeles Times]

Image: NASA/EO

Next from X Prize: An Award for Cleaning up BP’s Oil Spill? | 30 June 2010

BP can’t clean up its mess. Kevin Costner’s trying. But if you know how to clean up the leaking oil in the Gulf of Mexico, you could be a winner.

The X Prize Foundation says this week that it’s considering the creation of a multimillion-dollar prize for the solution to cleaning the BP oil spill. This is the same organization that put together awards of $10 million or more for private spacecraft and high mileage cars. The foundation’s Frances Beland announced the idea at an oil spill conference in Washington, D.C. ... [CNN]

Hurricane Alex Held Up Oil Cleanup—And in Some Places, Made Things Worse | 01 July 2010

The eye of Hurricane Alex steered hundreds of miles clear of the center of the BP oil spill, but it still managed to hold up cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Alex was by no means a whopper, reaching category 2 status at its height and blowing with winds just over 100 miles per hour. While mild by hurricane standards, it meant that only the largest ships, like those doing the relief well drilling and oil capturing, could stay out at sea. ... [ABC News]

Besides hampering cleanup efforts, Alex also negated some of the work crews already did. ... [USA Today]

The weather also held up the roll-out of BP’s newest weapon: the world’s largest skimmer. It’s a gigantic ship from Taiwan whose owners have been refitting it into an oil skimmer. ... [AP]

Image: NASA/EO

Gulf Coast Turtle News: No More Fiery Death; Relocating 70,000 Eggs | 02 July 2010

Things may be looking up, ever so slightly, for the Gulf of Mexico’s endangered sea turtles. A few days ago, environmental groups announced that they were suing BP and the Coast Guard over the “controlled burns” that were intended to burn off oil slicks in the water; the environmentalists said that sea turtles were getting caught in the infernos and burned alive. This morning a judge was prepared to hear arguments on a proposed injunction, but at the last minute the parties declared that they’ve reached a settlement. ... [Bloomberg]

According to Sea Turtles Restoration Project, one of the plaintiffs in the case, BP and the Coast Guard have agreed to station a qualified biologist on every vessel involved in the burns, and to remove turtles from the burn area before setting the blaze. This is good news for the leatherbacks, loggerheads, and Kemps Ridley turtles that make their home in the Gulf. Of course, it would be better news if their home wasn’t saturated with oil and periodically set on fire, but we’ll take what we can get.

Elsewhere in turtle news, conservationists are preparing to collect 70,000 turtle eggs from Alabama and Florida beaches. The ambitious scheme, coordinated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is seen as the best chance of preventing a massive die-off of the threatened creatures. ... [AP]

In the next couple of weeks, turtle experts will start the painstaking process of excavating up to 800 nests; each egg must be carefully lifted from its nest without rolling or repositioning it, to avoid disrupting the growing embryo inside. Then the eggs will be transported to a climate-controlled hanger at Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast where they’ll stay until hatching. Finally, if all goes well, the next generation of loggerheads and other sea turtles will be set loose in the oil-free Atlantic.

Image: Sea Turtle Restoration Project / Blair Witherington

Should We Allow a Massive Oil Pipeline from Canada to Texas? | 02 July 2010

With the perpetual flow of filthy crude from BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, just about anything seems like a better energy solution than deep sea offshore drilling. One new proposal, though, has the potential for similarly disastrous environmental harm.

The Keystone XL is a huge proposed pipeline that could carry oil from Canada’s oil sands on a snaking path through the American Midwest and all the way down to Texas, where it will be refined. The idea has been up for public comment for months, and that period comes to a close soon. So, should we build this thing? ... [The New York Times] [Houston Chronicle]

Image: NASA/EO

[bystander]

The Science of the Oil Spill | Science Insider | AAAS

Will Floating Seaweed Be Another Oil Casualty? | 28 June 2010

Florida beachgoers sometimes mistake the ugly brown mats for trash, but sargassum, a floating seaweed, plays an important role in the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, harboring fish larvae, young turtles, and other creatures. What's more, there's increasing evidence that the Gulf of Mexico is the source for sargassum habitats in the Atlantic Ocean.

Thousands of Sea Turtle Eggs To Be Moved Out of Oil's Way | 29 June 2010

For the tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs incubating in the sands of the northern Gulf of Mexico—and dangerously near the oil—it's come to this: Officials are planning to dig up the approximately 700 nests on Alabama and the Florida panhandle beaches, pack the eggs in Styrofoam boxes, and fly them to a facility in eastern Florida where they can mature. Once the eggs have hatched, the young turtles will be released in darkness on Florida's Atlantic beaches into oil-free water. Translocation of nests on this scale has never been attempted before.

Stop the Leak, Get Rich? | 29 June 2010

X Prize Foundation’s Francis Béland announced at the TEDxOilSpill conference yesterday that the company is creating a multimillion-dollar prize for anyone who can propose a solution for the BP oil spill. He later said that the prize money would probably be $3 million. Thirty-five thousand unsolicited ideas for how to fix the problem have already flooded BP, the government, and organizations including X Prize, which sponsors competitions to develop technologies in space flight, energy, medicine, and other areas.

Oil Dispersant Study Released by EPA, But Big Questions Remain | 30 June 2010

The Environmental Protection Agency released data today from its first round of toxicity testing on dispersants that could be used on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the agency's chief scientist said that not enough was yet known to make a recommendation about which one is best to use.

Since the spill began, almost 1.6 million gallons of dispersant have been sprayed onto the water and released at the site of the leaking well. Dispersants break up the oil into smaller droplets, which break down faster and are less likely to coat birds or damage wetlands. But the dispersants themselves can be toxic to other marine life, such as shrimp and fish.

How the Oil Plume Changed One Scientist's Life | 02 July 2010

The plumes of oil and gas spreading from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, which have the potential to create a low-oxygen dead zone, have attracted intense scrutiny from researchers. As part of the team that first discovered the plumes in May, biogeochemist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia, Athens, has been working full throttle to study the plumes and understand what kind of an impact they might have on marine life.

The effort has thrust Joye in the limelight. Her team's first report of the plume became the lightning rod in a tussle between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and academics about the reality of the subsurface hydrocarbons and the pace of research.

Oil Contamination of Crab Larvae Could Be Widespread| 02 July 2010

Researchers have found droplets of oil inside crab larvae in the Gulf of Mexico. Although preliminary, the findings represent the first sign of hydrocarbons from the Deepwater Horizon well entering the food web. "So many things feed on larvae, that's the disturbing part," says Darryl Felder of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. But Felder and others say it's too soon to predict what the larger effects on the ecosystem might be.

Two groups of scientists, funded by NSF rapid response grants, have been looking for changes in abundance of tiny crab larvae as they swim to estuaries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

[bystander]

Discovery Earth News | Wide Angle: Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010

Tropical Storm Alex to Miss Oil Spill | 28 June 2010

Although the storm will move past the spill site, strong swells and winds could nonetheless reach the slick area.

• The first major storm of the Atlantic season could set back efforts to clean up the BP oil spill.
• Most of the force of Tropical Storm Alex, however, will avoid the oil spill.
• An estimated 80 million to 150 million gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded.

Photo: Getty Images

NASA Surveys Oil Spill with Earthquake Aircraft | 28 June 2010

Earthquake surveillance technology that takes images of cracks and destruction after a quake on land could be the next line of defense for oil spill clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Outfitted with “sophisticated synthetic aperture radar” on its underside, NASA’s Gulfstream III environmental research aircraft launched a brief mission to fly over the oil-affected areas of the Gulf from June 22-24, according to the space agency’s website.
...
The souped-up radar is NASA's Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), ... Information Week reports.

Mission managers hope that these high-tech radar images captured from these flyovers will help give researchers a more accurate measurement of what’s floating on the surface of the Gulf now -- two months after the first reports of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

Photo: NASA/JPL

Oil Clean Up Tech Needs More Funding | 28 June 2010

Last week, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), introduced a bill that would "provide for the establishment of a program to support the development, demonstration, and commercialization of innovative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other hydrocarbons from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, including deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations, and for other purposes."

The so-called SOS Act would not increase costs to taxpayers, but redirect $50 million a year to clean up R&D from monies acquired through oil and gas royalty payments normally used to subsidize development of deepwater drilling.

Photo: iStockphoto

Hurricane Alex Delays Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts | 30 June 2010

Churned up waves and strong winds forced the suspension of oil skimming and booming operations along Gulf shorelines.

• Hurricane Alex could become a Category Two storm before making landfall.
• Although the storm is far from the spill site, strong winds and waves will temporarily halt cleanup efforts.
• Rough seas could also push the oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands.

Photo: Getty Images

X Prize Foundation to Reward Spill Solutions | 01 July 2010

Have a brilliant idea about how to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? Pitch it to the X Prize Foundation and you just might win a couple million bucks.

Sounds like a darn good incentive for helping out the environment at a time when it's desperately needed.

Francis Béland, X Prize Foundation Vice President of Prize Development, announced that the foundation is seriously considering creating a new competition at the TEDxOilSpill Conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday, June 28.
...
The proposed competition capitalizes on the public’s preexisting desire to bring the BP oil spill disaster to a halt. In an interview with CNN, Béland said that 35,000 ideas were previously submitted to BP, the government, and numerous organizations including the X Prize Foundation.

Image: Deepwater Horizon Response, Flickr

BP Burning Sea Turtles Alive? | 01 July 2010

Animal welfare groups claim that sea turtles are being torched in BP's controlled oil spill burns.

• Animal rights groups are asking for BP to remove the turtles before they conduct these burns.
• They estimate that some 430 sea turtles have died so far in the oil spill.

Image: AP Photo/Dave Martin

BP Oil Spill Now Biggest Ever in Gulf | 01 July 2010

BP's massive oil spill became the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the Associated Press reports, based on the highest of the federal government's estimates.

The oil that has gushed for 10 weeks from a ruptured well a mile under the sea hit the 140.6-million-gallon mark, passing the record-setting, 140-million-gallon Ixtoc I spill off Mexico's coast from 1979 to 1980. Even by the lower end of the government's estimates, at least 71.7 million gallons are in the Gulf.

An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day has been spurting out of the blown-out well since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank on April 22 some 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Keeping track of the total number of barrels is critical since the London-based oil company will likely be fined per gallon spilled.

Some 423 miles of U.S. shorelines have now been oiled as crude flows into the sea at an alarming rate.

The area around the ill-fated rig hosts an estimated 1,728 species, among them whale sharks, tarpon, tuna, sea turtles and sperm whales. The government's wildlife impact assessment as of June 23 showed that 1,024 birds, 407 sea turtles, and 47 marine mammals had been found dead along the Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi coasts. Nearly 900 animals had been recovered alive, but less than a hundred had so far been returned to the wild.

Image: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

[owlice]

This makes me crazy. It just gets worse and worse.

I cannot even tell what that bird is! An anhinga? The bill looks too narrow for it to be a cormorant. Ah, what it is is coated, oiled, dead.

This makes me crazy.

[bystander]

New Scientist | Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Gulf oil spill poses unique health challenges | 28 June 2010

Last week public health experts convened in New Orleans, Louisiana, to tackle unanswered questions about the health effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After the workshop, hosted by the Institute of Medicine, a non-profit organisation within the US National Academies in Washington DC, what do we now know about the health risks?

• What are the immediate health hazards of the oil spill?
  What components of the oil are dangerous?
  Who is most at risk?
  Are there any long-term risks?
  What new health challenges does this spill pose?

Image: Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley

Gulf oil spill: Are dispersants not so bad after all? | 01 July 2010

The dispersants being used to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may be less toxic than initially thought, according to US Environmental Protection Agency reports released yesterday.

The EPA tested mysid shrimp and a small coastal fish called the inland silverside for their response to the dispersants. Of eight dispersants tested, six were classified as "slightly toxic" and two as "practically" non-toxic.

Corexit 9500A, the only dispersant available in large enough quantities to be used in the Gulf, fell into the "slightly toxic" category. The report also states that dispersants do not seem to disrupt hormones, at least in the short term.

More reports will follow: the EPA says it will next look at how sea animals respond to a mixture of dispersant and crude oil.

Times-Picayune extensive coverage of the spill.

[bystander]

PhysOrg | Environment | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Academy authority on delta bulrush says 'his' plant could help ease oil spill crisis | 28 June 2010

Dr. Alfred Ernest Schuyler (Katie Clark/ANSP)

A revered botanist at the Academy of Natural Sciences who first profiled and then named the delta bulrush says the plant has natural properties that could help reduce the impact of the Gulf oil spill on the Mississippi delta.

Dr. Alfred Ernest Schuyler, the Academy's curator emeritus of botany and a prominent botanist in the international science community, is urging all sides involved in the crisis to give this slender sedge family member a hard look as they weigh their spill-fighting strategies.

Schuyler described and named Scirpus deltarum, now known as Schoenoplectus deltarum the delta bulrush, in 1970 after doing field research in the Mississippi delta. Based on the detoxification properties of similar bulrush species, Schuyler thinks the delta bulrush could be instrumental in decomposing the oil and reducing its impact on other threatened marsh plants.

Source: The Academy of Natural Sciences

Reseachers predict larger-than-average Gulf dead zone; oil spill impact unclear | 28 June 2010

(NASA/GSFC/Scientific Visualization Studio)

University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery.

The 2010 forecast, released today by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), calls for a Gulf dead zone of between 6,500 and 7,800 square miles, an area roughly the size of Lake Ontario.

The most likely scenario, according to Scavia, is a Gulf dead zone of 6,564 square miles, which would make it the Gulf's 10th-largest oxygen-starved, or hypoxic, region on record. The average size over the past five years was about 6,000 square miles.

It is unclear what impact, if any, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will have on the size of this year's Gulf dead zone because numerous factors are at work, the researchers say.

Source: University of Michigan

Study: Americans worried about the quality of Gulf seafood | 28 June 2010

Americans are almost universally aware of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and they are concerned about its potential impact on the safety of Gulf seafood, according to new data from a continuing survey conducted by the University of Minnesota.

The survey is part of an ongoing weekly consumer confidence poll conducted by The Food Industry Center at the U of M. During the most recent survey, 99 percent of respondents said they were aware of the spill and 85 percent say they are following news about it closely or have heard a lot about it.

The possible effects of the spill on Gulf seafood are of at least some concern to 89 percent of respondents, and 50 percent said they are "extremely concerned." When asked how the oil spill will affect their consumption of seafood, 54 percent report some impact, with 44 percent of that group saying they will only eat seafood that they know does not come from the Gulf of Mexico, and another 31 percent saying they will eat less seafood regardless of where it comes from.

Source: University of Minnesota

Got a fix for oil spill? It may be worth a prize | 28 June 2010

You might be able to get rich quick if you can fix the BP oil spill.

The X Prize Foundation wants to make fixing the BP oil spill a multimillion dollar competition. It has done the same for space, fuel efficient cars and gene-mapping.

Foundation Vice President Francis Beland (BE'-land) says his group is kicking around the idea. They've already received 35,000 unsolicited ideas for fixing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Beland told a special oil spill conference Monday that his group is seeking advice from the public on how to handle such a competition. The foundation also has to raise money for a prize. X Prizes are usually $10 million or more.

More information: http://www.xprize.org/x-prizes/overview

©2010 AP

Is oil spill also fouling the air? | 29 June 2010

UCI researchers find disturbing amounts of certain gases above massive Gulf slick. More study is needed.

Record levels of potentially harmful chemicals have been detected by UC Irvine researchers in the air around the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While the findings are preliminary, they illustrate a critical need for further testing.
...
[Donald Blake] and Nobel laureate chemist F. Sherwood Rowland are poring over data collected during recent plane flights and boat trips through the spill area. Air samples from about 400 canisters are being scrutinized.

The concentrations of certain chemicals exceed any they’ve found before, Blake says, including over Mexico City, Oklahoma oil tank farms and other heavily polluted urban areas. ... The amounts detected, however, are lower than safety thresholds established by regulators.

Source: UC Irvine

Some 70,000 turtle eggs to be whisked far from oil | 30 June 2010

(AP Photo/Janet McConnaughey)

An effort to save thousands of sea turtle hatchlings from dying in the oily Gulf of Mexico will begin in the coming weeks in a desperate attempt to keep an entire generation of threatened species from vanishing.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will coordinate the plan, which calls for collecting about 70,000 turtle eggs in up to 800 nests buried in the sand across Florida Panhandle and Alabama beaches.

It's never been done on such a massive scale. But doing nothing, experts say, could lead to unprecedented deaths. There are fears the turtles would be coated in oil and poisoned by crude-soaked food.

©2010 AP

More oil spills to come, says WUSTL anthropologist | 30 June 2010

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not simply a random accident. There will be more of these spills to come, as the days of easy oil are over, says an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

“BP and other oil companies have tried to portray this spill as an accident or an aberration, but in fact there are spills on off-shore and on-shore sites around the world, increasingly,” says Bret Gustafson, PhD, associate professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences. Gustafson teaches a course on “Oil Wars: America and the Cultural Politics of Global Energy.”

A rig sank off the coast of Venezuela in May. Last October, a rig spilled oil for two months into the Timor Sea off of Australia. There are recurring spills in virtually every oil region, such as the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon and Nigeria.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

How fast can microbes break down oil washed onto Gulf beaches? | 01 July 2010

(Markus Huettel/FSU/Earth, Ocean, Atmosphere)

A new Florida State University study is investigating how quickly the Deepwater Horizon oil carried into Gulf of Mexico beach sands is being degraded by the sands' natural microbial communities, and whether native oil-eating bacteria that wash ashore with the crude are helping or hindering that process.

What oceanography professors Markus Huettel and Joel E. Kostka learn will enable them to predict when most of the oil in the beaches will be gone. Their findings may also reveal ways to accelerate the oil degradation rate -- and speed matters, because toxic crude components that remain buried on Gulf Coast beaches may seep into the groundwater below.

Source: Florida State University

Study will look at oil spill's effect on whales | 02 July 2010

Tags, tissue samples and sound are among methods being used on a scientific cruise to study the Gulf of Mexico oil spill's effects on whales and other endangered animals.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship Gordon Gunter returned to the waters Thursday after stopping in Pascagoula, its home port, for equipment and supplies.

As part of the study, listening buoys will remain on the sea floor for months, letting researchers track changes in what kinds of marine mammals show up and what they're doing as the amount of oil changes through the fall.

Cornell University scientists will lower a dozen units all around the Gulf to listen for sperm whale clicks and Bryde's (BRU-des) whale calls. Since whales use different clicks and calls while communicating, navigating and finding food, scientists can tell not only what species are around, but what they are doing.

A new technology that can record all marine mammal species living in the Gulf, including beaked whales and a variety of dolphins, is being deployed by a group from Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California San Diego.

One unit is already in place near the sunken drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, and three more will be set in areas getting other amounts of oil.

Recording sounds from all the mammals living in the Gulf will provide a more complete picture of the ecosystem's health, said Dr. John Hildebrand of Scripps.

NOAA scientists will collect biopsies from sperm whales and other marine mammals, and will track where and how many there are by sight and - with towed underwater microphones - by sound.

Oregon State researchers hope to tag up to two dozen sperm whales near the wild well. The satellite tracking tags will tell the scientists whether the spill affects the size of the whales' home range and their movements within feeding areas.

Tagging healthy whales from a number of different groups will let him see if their movement patterns have changed. Researchers will also try to tag whales in the spill's projected path, to see what they do when the oil arrives.

The studies began in mid-June and the research ship is scheduled to return to shore Aug. 4.

©2010 AP

Florida tests inventors' sand-cleaning ideas | 02 July 2010

(AP Photo/Melissa Nelson)

Some inventors came with cotton fiber rolls, others with oil-clumping polymer mixes and one brought a specially designed rake. Their task: clean layers of crude oil and tar from a once-pristine Florida beach and prove they have the right stuff to combat the gummy onshore residue of the massive Gulf oil spill.

The 18 U.S. and Canadian inventors displayed their science to save Florida's beaches Thursday in a high-stakes clean-off under the critical gaze of evaluators. They were winnowed from among more than 400 people who submitted ideas.

©2010 AP

Oil spills raise arsenic levels in the ocean, says new research

Oil spills can increase levels of toxic arsenic in the ocean, creating an additional long-term threat to the marine ecosystem, according to research published today in the journal Water Research.

Arsenic is a poisonous chemical element found in minerals and it is present in oil. High levels of arsenic in seawater can enable the toxin to enter the food chain. It can disrupt the photosynthesis process in marine plants and increase the chances of genetic alterations that can cause birth defects and behavioural changes in aquatic life. It can also kill animals such as birds that feed on sea creatures affected by arsenic.

In today's study, a team from Imperial College London has discovered that oil spills can partially block the ocean's natural filtration system and prevent this from cleaning arsenic out of the seawater. The researchers say their study sheds light on a new toxic threat from the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

US oil spill clean-up resumes after storm | 04 July 2010

Clean-up work gathered speed in some areas of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Sunday, but heavy swells kept many boats docked, halting efforts to fight the ecological disaster.

A Taiwanese mega-skimmer dubbed "A Whale" was in position near the site of the leak and set to undergo 48 hours of "proof of concept" testing, Coast Guard spokeswoman Ayla Kelley told AFP.

The 300-yard (275-meter) long tanker can vacuum up 21 million gallons of oily water a day, separating oil from water and spitting the seawater back out.

Small skimming boats that have been patrolling the Gulf for the past 10 weeks have only collected 28.2 million gallons of oily water to date, and rough weather made seas off Louisiana too choppy for them to even go out Saturday.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker at a Houma, Louisiana information center said crews were resetting protective booms along fragile coastal areas, but skimming and controlled burns of spilled crude had been halted.

However, around the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of uninhabited barrier islands and wildlife refuge at Louisiana's easternmost point, boom and skimming operations resumed Friday, said a representative of Admiral Thad Allen, the top official overseeing the spill response.

©2010 AFP

US to take more control of spill response website | 05 July 2010

The US government is expected to take over control of the central information website on the Gulf oil spill response that has been run jointly by various agencies and BP for the 2 1/2 months since the rig explosion.

The Department of Homeland Security wants a one-stop shop for information that is completely overseen by the government as it settles into the long-haul of dealing with the response to the disaster. The U.S. Coast Guard falls under Homeland Security's authority.

BP and the federal government are part of a unified command that is working together to try to contain the oil gusher, but the government has been directing BP at every turn.

A DHS spokesman told The Associated Press on Sunday that the joint relationship won't change when the website is given a dot-gov address instead of a dot-com address.

More information: Deepwater Horizon Response

©2010 AP

US resumes oil skimming after Hurricane Alex | 05 July 2010

Efforts to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill gathered steam Monday after Hurricane Alex prompted a five-day shutdown, amid new questions over how BP would pay for the mounting costs.

Cleanup workers arrived back on Grand Isle, Louisiana by the hundreds, spilling off school buses that shuttled them in from around the state.

In the wake of Hurricane Alex, beaches, shorelines and marshes lay smeared with thick patches of oil and the sky was still filled with ominous, gray clouds.

"This is definitely the most oil I've seen. So far," said one worker who declined to give his name.

Skimming operations resumed in Louisiana but high seas kept vessels tied up in harbor in three other southeastern US states and no controlled burns were being carried out.

But officials said other operations to fend off the spill, including laying protective boom, were back on track.

©2010 AFP

[bystander]

PhysOrg | Environment | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

BP oil spill costs soar above 3 billion dollars | 05 July 2010

BP's costs over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill soared Monday above three billion dollars, while a giant Taiwanese ship provided hope of revolutionizing on-sea skimming operations.

"The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 3.12 billion dollars, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs," BP said.

The latest estimate is far higher than the 2.65 billion dollars given by the energy firm one week ago.

BP's share price has collapsed more than 50 percent since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig it leased sank on April 22, two days after a blast that killed 11 workers.

After intense pressure from President Barack Obama over the worst ever US environmental disaster, BP agreed last month to suspend its shareholder dividend and create a 20-billion-dollar fund for costs arising from the spill.

BP is also selling non-core assets to raise 10 billion dollars, while international ratings agencies have downgraded the company's credit worthiness.

©2010 AFP

Tar balls hit Texas as oil spill cost soars | 06 July 2010

Tar balls from the Gulf of Mexico spill have turned up on the Texas coast, expanding the oil slick's impact to all five Gulf states, officials said late Monday, as BP's disaster costs soared above three billion dollars.

Meanwhile a giant Taiwanese ship deployed to boost the clean-up remained in testing, with initial results inconclusive because of choppy waters, but bad weather on the horizon threatened to further disrupt clean-up efforts.

©2010 AFP

The long-term fate of the oil spill in the Atlantic | 06 July 2010

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Based on simulation. Credit: IPRC/SOEST/UHM

The possible spread of the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig over the course of one year was studied in a series of computer simulations by a team of researchers from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Eight million buoyant particles were released continuously from April 20 to September 17, 2010, at the location of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The release occurred in ocean flow data from simulations conducted with the high-resolution Ocean General Circulation Model for the Earth Simulator (OFES). "The paths of the particles were calculated in 8 typical OFES years over 360 days from the beginning of the spill," says Fabian Schloesser, a PhD student from the Department of Oceanography in SOEST, who worked on these simulations with Axel Timmermann and Oliver Elison Timm from the International Pacific Research Center, also in SOEST. "From these 8 typical years, 5 were selected to create an animation for which the calculated extent of the spill best matches current observational estimates."

[bystander]

The Science of the Oil Spill | Science Insider | AAAS

The Challenge of Drilling a Relief Well | 06 July 2010

On Friday Science's Richard Kerr published a story in Science on the challenge of drilling a relief well; BP is currently drilling two to hopefully stop the gulf gusher. Here Kerr answers questions from ScienceInsider on this high-tech method of stopping a flowing oil well.

[bystander]

PhysOrg | Environment | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Oil leases a threat to fishery ecosystem | 07 July 2010

The issuing of oil drilling licences off the coast of South Australia poses a serious potential threat to the ecosystem that underpins the nation's most valuable fishing industry, a Flinders University oceanographer has said.

Associate Professor Kaempf said that the seasonal upwelling of nutrient-enriched water across the continental shelf break near Kangaroo Island is the principle agent that fuels high abundances of phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish, including the pilchards which attract juvenile Southern Bluefin Tuna to the region.

The haunting images of the massively destructive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have an immediate relevance, he said.

“Apart from potential overfishing of juvenile tuna, future oil disasters pose the biggest threat to the unique ecological environment produced by upwelling in the region. Even a small oil spill could cause damage in the Great Australian Bight similar to that caused by the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” Associate Professor Kaempf said.
...
Some of the new drill leases approved by the Federal Government are, ironically, in the same area flagged by Environment Minister Peter Garrett for potential marine sanctuaries.

Associate Professor Kaempf said industrial exploitation and marine pollution of any kind must be limited to zero in the area.

“Environmentally and economically, we cannot risk this resource: without the nutrient enriched water, the eastern Great Australian Bight would be a marine desert,” he said.

The study’s findings will soon be published in the prestigious Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans.

Provided by Flinders University

Europe should freeze deep water drilling | 07 July 2010

Europe should freeze new deep water drilling until the causes of the rig explosion which triggered the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are known, a top EU official said Wednesday.

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said governments need to make sure that the energy industry launches all possible measures to boost safety and enhance disaster prevention.

"Utmost caution must be exercised for the moment with respect to new drillings," Oettinger said, according to prepared remarks he was to deliver to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"Given the current circumstances, any responsible Government would at present practically freeze new permits for drilling with extreme parameters and conditions," he said.

"This can mean de facto a moratorium on new drills until the causes of the accident are known and corrective measures are taken for such frontier operations as the ones carried out by the Deepwater Horizon."

©2010 AFP

Scientists describe two new species of fish from area engulfed by oil spill | 08 July 2010

A new species of batfish, Halieutichthys intermedius, lives
in the waters completely encompassed by the Gulf oil spill.
(Credit: Ho, Chakrabarty & Sparks (2010))

Although the Gulf of Mexico has been intensively surveyed by scientists and picked over by fishermen, it is still home to fishes that are waiting to be described. New research published in the Journal of Fish Biology describes two new species of pancake batfishes (Halieutichthys intermedius and H. bispinosus) and re-describes another (H. aculeatus), all of which live in waters either partially or fully encompassed by the recent oil spill.

"One of the fishes that we describe is completely restricted to the oil spill area," says John Sparks, curator of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History. "If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity—especially microdiversity—is out there that we do not know about."
...
"These discoveries underscore the potential loss of undocumented biodiversity that a disaster of this scale may portend," says Sparks.

Provided by American Museum of Natural History

New approach helps teachers integrate conservation biology into ecology classes | 08 July 2010

Framing familiar environmental issues in everyday language—whether the topic is a Gulf Coast oil spill or the spread of Lyme disease—may be the key to successfully engaging high school students with conservation biology research in their ecology classes. A study, presented in the latest issue of Conservation Biology by Yael Wyner, an assistant professor at the City College of New York, and Rob DeSalle, a curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), advocates a pedagogical model where students learn about normal ecological processes (biodiversity and ecological integrity) by studying what goes wrong when human actions disturb those processes.
...
The authors intend to modify and retest their teaching modules by introducing their "ecology-disrupted" case study model into the classrooms of 60 teachers for the 2010-2011 school year. After testing, the modules will be available for dissemination on the Museum's education website at amnh.org/education.

Provided by American Museum of Natural History

La Nina developing, could mean more hurricanes | 08 July 2010

The climate phenomenon known as La Nina appears to be developing, threatening more bad news in the efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

When a La Nina occurs there tend to be more hurricanes than normal in the Atlantic and Caribbean regions, which include the Gulf of Mexico.

The federal Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that La Nina conditions are likely to develop in July and August.

More information: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

©2010 AP

Gulf oil spill panel to look at root causes | 09 July 2010

The new presidential oil spill commission will focus on how safety, government oversight and the ability to clean up spills haven't kept up with advances in drilling technology, the panel's leaders say.

The commission will also dig into what it calls the root causes of the April 20 BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, looking deeper than just equipment failures.

More information: http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/

©2010 AP

BP to place new containment cap on oil spill | 10 July 2010

A worker cleans oily globs that washed ashore in Waveland.

Energy giant BP was expected to begin a new effort Saturday to contain a Gulf of Mexico oil spill by placing a better cap over the gushing well in hopes to stop the flow of oil completely.

Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the government's spill response, said late Friday he had approved the plan to simultaneously install the Helix Producer and "capping stack" containment mechanisms over the well.

However, the operation will require temporary suspension of the current top hat containment system. That means about 15,000 barrels of oil a day that had been collected through the old capping system will spew directly into the Gulf until the new cap is in place.

"I validated this plan because the capacity for oil containment when these installations are complete will be far greater than the capabilities we have achieved using current systems," Allen explained.
...
The spill prompted the Obama administration to order a moratorium on deepwater drilling, but the freeze was overturned by a federal court last month and an appeals court upheld that ruling on Thursday.

The government "made no showing that there is any likelihood that drilling activities will be resumed pending appeal," the court said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said he will soon issue a new order to block deepwater drilling, regardless of how the court ruled, and that oil companies have not resumed drilling due to the legal uncertainties.

©2010 AFP

Breathing the filth: Hydrocarbons in the air are more toxic than oil in the gulf | 10 July 2010

What a relief it will be when the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico gets plugged, ending the colossal mess caused by gushing crude. Or will it?

Once the spill stops, oil will resume flowing as it always has, to be burned in engines, released to the sky and breathed deep into our bodies. We know now that these emissions contribute to a longer-term and perhaps ultimately more dangerous form of pollution -- climate change.

As deadly as the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is, the pollution pales in comparison with the hydrocarbons spilling into the air over our cities, farms and highways. The oil spill ranks as the nation's worst environmental disaster only if you ignore the great ongoing spill in the sky.
...
Will the oil spill in the gulf become an inflection point similar the 1969 spill off the Santa Barbara coast, which ignited a groundswell of environmental support? Not until we gain a sense of proportion about all the hydrocarbons we discharge, and a reckoning with our petroleum dependency.

©2010, Los Angeles Times.

NOAA: Gulf seafood tested so far is safe to eat | 10 July 2010

Pelicans watch a shrimp trawler skim oil in Caminada Bay north of
Grand Isle, La., Friday, July 9, 2010. The tiny resort island on the
Gulf of Mexico is closed to all fishing due to the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill. (AP Photo/Chuck Cook)

Shrimp, grouper, tuna and other seafood snatched from the fringes of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico are safe to eat, according to a federal agency inspecting the catch.

To date, roughly 400 samples of commonly consumed species caught mostly in open waters - and some from closed areas - have been chemically tested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Officials say none so far has shown concerning levels of contaminants. Each sample represents multiple fish of the same species.

NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began catching seafood species in the Gulf within days of the April 20 BP rig explosion off Louisiana that generated a massive oil spill.

The agency is mostly looking for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, the most common carcinogenic components of crude oil.
...
FDA issued guidance last month that encourages seafood processors to heighten precautions so they know the origin of their seafood.

©2010 AP

[bystander]

Discover Blogs | 80beats | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

BP Oil Update: Tar Balls in Texas & Lake Pontchartrain | 07 July 2010

Image: flickr/Geoff Livingston

On Saturday, five gallons of tar balls appeared on the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island in Texas. Their arrival means that BP oil has now hit all five gulf states. Researchers don’t believe that ocean currents alone carried the balls, but instead say that the glops of gloop washed off recovery ship hulls.

Specifically, the researchers from a joint BP-Coast Guard response team looked at the tar balls’ “weathering,” which they say was too light for oil that had traveled from the leak site, around 550 miles away. ... [BBC]

Greg Pollock, Texas Deputy Commissioner of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response, has worried that this day was coming; he sounded a call in a June Texas Land Office newsletter: ... [NPR]

According to the AFP, the largest are only slightly larger than an inch in diameter and, all combined, cover less than one percent of the beaches where they were spotted: East Beach on Galveston Island and Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula, which both remain open.

Though Texas officials say that the beaches remain safe, they also promise that BP will pay for any damage: ... [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, oil has reached Lake Pontchartrain, known for its seemingly miraculous recovery from the pollution in the 1990s and again after Army Corps of Engineers drained Katrina floodwaters from New Orleans into the lake. The body of water is technically an estuary that is connected to the Gulf of Mexico through several straits.

The Science of the Oil Spill | Science Insider | AAAS

Researchers Watch For Effects of Oil on the Gulf's Endangered Behemoths | 07 July 2010

In the Gulf of Mexico, oil has fouled a key habitat of one of the most impressive creatures on Earth: the sperm whale, the world's largest toothed whale. A group of about 2000 of these whales, which are listed as endangered in the United States, regularly ply the continental shelf from Texas to Florida. The behemoths—males can grow to 16 meters and weigh as much as 40,000 kilograms—can dive to depths of more than 1000 meters to feed, staying there for up to an hour at a time.

Now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has launched a suite of studies to track how oil might affect Gulf of Mexico sperm whales over the next few months. These studies will include tissue sampling, population surveys, tagging, and several types of acoustical monitoring. One of the lead investigators is Bruce Mate, a cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. His team will tag two dozen whales with radio transmitters, enabling researchers to watch for changes in their movements and behavior. Another is Christopher Clark, a bioacoustician at Cornell University, who is overseeing the deployment of 22 microphone units to the gulf's bottom. These units will record the calls and echolocation clicks of sperm whales and Bryde's whales over the next 100 days, providing an initial picture of how the whales are responding to the oil.

Desperate Measures for Oil Spill Draw More Criticism | 08 July 2010

With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico already wrecking tourism and closing down much of the fishing, Louisiana and other states have been trying hard to protect their sensitive coastal wetlands.

The problem: many of their proposed actions don't pass scientific muster or pose dangerous side effects. The latest example is the attempt to fill tidal channels in Barataria Bay with rocks. Scientists dismissed the idea as foolhardy, predicting it would cause erosion of barrier islands. Last weekend, the Army Corps of Engineers agreed and denied the permit application, killing the project.

Scientists have also criticized a proposal to block off a channel in Dauphin Island, Alabama, for example, because it was so hastily conceived that its full effects were hard to predict.

The biggest and most controversial project, of course, is to build a massive sand berm along the coast: ...

Despite concerns from scientists, the project went ahead. But late last month, the Department of Interior halted some of the dredging because it was threatening to damage barrier islands.

Desperate times lead to desperate action, and getting careful scientific scrutiny apparently doesn't rank high on the list of most politicians. "Local parish and state officials are pretty exasperated," says Robert Twilley, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. "They're just throwing any ideas at this."

New Scientist | Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Signs of hope in the Gulf: the final fix? | Short Sharp Science | 09 July 2010

Nearly three months since the Deepwater Horizon rig started to spew oil in to the Gulf of Mexico, is BP about to finally seal the well?

The drilling of relief wells is ahead of schedule, says BP. Originally slated for completion around mid-August, officials are now saying that one of the wells could intercept the busted well in as little as seven to ten days. Government officials warn, though, that plugging the well with mud and cement, a process known as "bottom kill," via the relief well could take several days or more to complete.

It is not known how the oil is flowing through the original well, but for the bottom kill to work, they will have to hit the right spot in the well casings - and that may take several attempts. In a press briefing on Thursday, Admiral Thad Allen said he is sticking to the original August time frame.

But even if the relief well takes weeks to become fully operational, another temporary plan could stop the flow of oil as early as next week.

Firstly an additional containment ship, the Helix Producer, is being lined up to help mop up the oil coming from the wellhead. That will increase BP's ability to capture oil by an additional 53,000 barrels a day - the overall capacity of 80,000 would be higher than current estimates for the flow rate.

However a break in the weather has encouraged BP to press ahead with plans to swap the current leaky containment cap, which has help collect some oil, with a new cap. Unlike the old cap, which is held in place with a rubber seal that allows for oil to seep out, the new cap would be bolted into place.

The process of swapping caps will be fraught with challenges, as it will have to be secured by underwater robots. During the procedure, oil will flow unrestrained. So the feds are putting the pressure on BP to make sure they can have the Helix Producer, an oil-recovery vessel, in place to catch the gushing oil during the swap.

[bystander]

New Scientist | Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Gulf of Mexico becomes an accidental laboratory | SPECIAL REPORT: 21 July 2010

An army of ecologists is gearing up for an arduous campaign to document the damage caused by the Gulf oil spill and chart the eventual recovery

BP Top Hat cap tests are inconclusive | UPFRONT: 20 July 2010

Has the new cap on the wrecked Gulf well head finally got the better of the gushing oil?

Gulf turtle evacuees could get lost at sea| 15 July 2010

Turtles are being relocated from the US Gulf coast to save them from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – but this may scramble their navigating skills

Pioneer aquanaut: How not to clean up an oil spill | INTERVIEW: 12 July 2010

Seabed explorer and former top government scientist Sylvia Earle is angry at events in the Gulf – but still hopeful about the planet's prospects

Discover Blogs | 80beats | Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Feds Detect an Oil Seep, Say BP’s Cap May Not Be Working | 19 July 2010

If three months of waiting for BP to fix its oil leak have taught us anything, it’s not to get too optimistic about potential fixes. On Thursday, BP installed a cap that appeared to cut off the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but yesterday the federal government officials overseeing the leak response said (pdf) that there appear to be hydrocarbons leaking from the seafloor near the well, and possibly methane detected above the well.

Photos From the Gulf’s Great Sea Turtle Relocation | 16 July 2010

In early July we brought you news of the Great Sea Turtle Relocation–an ambitious plan dreamed up by conservationists to scoop up some 70,000 sea turtle eggs from Gulf Coast beaches, to prevent the hatchlings from crawling straight into oil-fouled waters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that the plan carried considerable risks to the unborn turtles, but said it was the best chance of preventing the die-off an entire generation. Now the update: Over the past week, the plan has gone into action, and baby turtles are now swimming free in the Atlantic Ocean. But some experts question whether the launched turtles have a chance.

BP’s Cap Has Stopped the Oil Leak—for Now | 16 July 2010

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of oil not gushing uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s leak, for the first time in nearly three months. BP is still running tests on the new cap the company installed this week, but at least for now there’s some for slight optimism.

One Cap Off, One Cap On: BP Tries Another Plan to Catch Leaking Oil | 12 July 2010

Will this solution finally be the solution? Today in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is attempting to secure another containment cap onto its oil leak, which the company says could trap and collect all the oil gushing from the leak—if it works.

The Science of the Oil Spill | Science Insider | AAAS

Qualified Good News on Subsea Dispersed Oil Plumes: Continued Low Oil Concentrations, No Dead Zones | 23 July 2010

A second report by a multiagency team of government and academic scientists, working on five research vessels between 19 May and 19 June finds the distribution of the plumes largely unchanged from the first analysis, released last month. "The report indicates that subsurface oil concentrations are highest near the wellhead and become more diffuse farther away from the source," says a press release.

Good News in Gulf: Government Reduces Area Closed to Fishing by One-Third | 22 July 2010

For the first time in months, the government has good news for Gulf of Mexico fishermen: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has decided to reopen a 68,345 square kilometer chunk of the gulf to commercial and recreational fishing. That reduces the closed area by about a third but leaves about a quarter of U.S. gulf waters still off-limits.

Scientists to Thad Allen: Stop 'Massive Re-Engineering' of Gulf Coast | 21 July 2010

More than two dozen coastal scientists are asking Thad Allen, who heads the federal oil spill response, to halt coastal engineering projects that are intended to prevent damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Calling the projects ill-conceived and poorly reviewed, the scientists argue in a letter sent this afternoon that the engineering will probably do more harm than good:

Headcount of Sea Turtles Proves Elusive | 15 July 2010

Government agencies don't have the data they need to accurately count populations of the six species of endangered and threatened sea turtles in the United States, says a report issued today by the National Research Council. And that will throw a wrench into ongoing efforts to figure out how badly the turtle populations that live and nest in the Gulf of Mexico have been hit by the oil spill, says report chair Karen Bjorndal, a marine biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who studies loggerhead and green turtles. The data gaps also hamper the government's ability to set sensible, "acceptable take" limits, the numbers of turtles deemed permissible for fishermen to accidentally catch, she says.

Top Engineers to Investigate Cause of Oil Spill | 13 July 2010

Investigations into the gulf oil disaster are multiplying. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Research Council announced yesterday that they are assembling an expert committee of academic and industry engineers to take a technical look into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill.

Discovery Earth News | Wide Angle: Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010

What Does the Seep Mean for the Gulf? | 19 July 2010

If this seep is related to the capped well, the situation at the bottom of the gulf is verging on a nightmare scenario for BP and everyone affected by the oil spill.

US Orders BP to Report on 'Seep' at Gulf Oil Well 18 July 2010

Hydrocarbons have been detected near the capped gusher, experts are investigating the source.

BP Reports No More Oil Flowing into Gulf | 15 July 2010

Although the tests are still ongoing, the new cap appears to be preventing oil from gushing into the Gulf.

Oil Containment Cap Tests Delayed | 14 July 2010

Officials fear that pressure increases caused by shutting off the flow of oil too quickly could create a new leak on the sea floor.

BP Tests New Oil Containment Cap | 13 July 2010

The energy giant is hoping their latest efforts will put an end to the leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf's Artificial Islands Already Failing | 12 July 2010

Images taken of one construction site near the northern edge of the Chandeleur islands appear to show the sea washing away a giant sand berm over the course of about two weeks.

BP Caps Oil Spill | 12 July 2010

Although the old "Top Hat" collected 25,000 barrels of oil a day on average, the new system may be enough to contain the whole leak.

New Cap Could Seal Well as Relief Drilling Continues | 09 July 2010

If the containment cap fails, engineers are hopeful relief wells will do the trick. Find out how the two wells work here.