The Science of the Oil Spill: Our reporting team tackles five key issues

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Gulf Oil Spill
28 February 2011 | ScienceInsider

NIH Begins Study of Oil Spill's Impact on Residents

by Sara Reardon
Today, the U.S. government launched what's being billed as the largest study ever conducted of how an oil spill affects human health. The Gulf Long-Term Follow-Up Study will survey...
Gulf Oil Spill
4 February 2011 | ScienceInsider

Embattled Author and Critics Agree: Gulf Recovery Assessment 'Not Based on Data'

by Eli Kintisch
With the fate of the commercial seafood industry in the Gulf of Mexico hanging in the balance, the manager of the $20-billion victims compensation fund has issued this week...
Gulf Oil Spill
11 January 2011 | ScienceInsider

Oil Spill Commission Calls for Larger Role for Science

by Richard A. Kerr
The final report of the presidential oil spill commission released today calls for more science in order to better protect the environment. It details plenty of oil industry hubris...
Gulf Oil Spill
6 January 2011 | ScienceInsider

Oil Spill Commission Roundup: 'A Failure of Management'

by Eli Kintisch
The presidential oil spill commission has released one chapter of its final report focused on one aspect of the calamity: Most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can...
Gulf Oil Spill
17 December 2010 | ScienceInsider

Politics Buried Science in Louisiana Sand Berms, Oil Commission Finds

by Erik Stokstad
The idea to guard against this year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by building offshore sand berms was controversial from the start, and scientists voiced many...
Gulf Oil Spill
22 November 2010 | ScienceInsider

How BP Clashed and Cooperated With Scientists

by Eli Kintisch
A detail-rich, 39-page working paper from staff members of the oil spill commission says the government and BP have "much to take pride in" for their response to the...
Gulf Oil Spill
17 November 2010 | ScienceInsider

Update: Expert Report Deplores Poor Decisions Leading to Gulf Oil Spill

by Richard A. Kerr
A series of ill-advised decisions by operators that saved time and money likely contributed to the eventual blowout and explosion that oiled the Gulf of Mexico this year. That's...
Gulf Oil Spill
17 November 2010 | ScienceInsider

NRC: Gulf Spill Resulted From 'Insufficient Consideration of Risk'

by Richard A. Kerr
In an interim report on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released this morning, a committee of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council finds that...
16 November 2010 | ScienceNOW

Listening for Oil Spills

by Kim Krieger
Sonar allows researchers to track oil, gas leaking into Gulf of Mexico
Gulf Oil Spill
6 October 2010 | ScienceInsider

Government Slipped Up on Oil Spill Estimates, Says Panel

by Richard A. Kerr
One of five staff member reports released today by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling criticizes the federal government's efforts to scientifically...
Gulf Oil Spill
6 October 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil Spill Panel Says EPA, NOAA Weren't Ready to Deploy Dispersants

by Erik Stokstad
The staff members of a presidential commission today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for being inadequately prepared to deal with...
Gulf Oil Spill
5 October 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force Gets Under Way

by Erik Stokstad
Spurred by the oil spill's impact on the ecosystem, the White House is forming a task force to come up with a strategy to restore the entire damaged gulf...
Gulf Oil Spill
30 September 2010 | ScienceInsider

BP Releases Long-Awaited Plan for $500 Million for Gulf Research

by Lauren Schenkman
An alliance of gulf state governments will be in charge of doling out the biggest pot of money for scientific research on impacts of BP's Gulf of Mexico oil...
2 September 2010 | ScienceNOW

A New Tool for Tracking Oil Spills

by Phil Berardelli
Model predicted where and when BP spill would hit Gulf Coast shores
24 August 2010 | ScienceInsider

Bits of Good News From the Gulf

by Robert F. Service
BOSTON—The news out of the Gulf of Mexico doesn't look too bleak, according to preliminary reports here today at the semiannual meeting of the American Chemical Society. The researchers...
24 August 2010 | ScienceNOW

Bacteria Are Gobbling Gulf Oil

by Kristen Minogue
Study finds microbes migrating to oil plumes
19 August 2010 | ScienceNOW

Report Paints New Picture of Gulf Oil

by Richard A. Kerr
Plumes not as dark, massive as media reports suggested
Gulf Oil Spill
10 August 2010 | ScienceInsider

Huge Area for Fishing Reopened as Seafood Threat Lessens

by Eli Kintisch
NOAA has reopened more than 13,000 square kilometers of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing. "Since July 3, NOAA data have shown no oil in [this] area," a NOAA...
Gulf Oil Spill
5 August 2010 | ScienceInsider

Federal Scientists: Guarded Optimism on Oil Spill

by Eli Kintisch
The overall mood at the White House yesterday was upbeat with the news that there’s seemingly less of a risk of ecological impacts of oil and that the well is...
Gulf Oil Spill
4 August 2010 | ScienceInsider

Mother Nature Having Her Way With Gulf Oil

by Richard A. Kerr
Fully three-quarters of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that spewed from BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico bypassed efforts to collect it or burn it...
Gulf Oil Spill
2 August 2010 | ScienceInsider

Five Ways Oil Drops Could Still Be Deadly to Gulf

by Eli Kintisch
Last week the debate about the fate of oil in the gulf took, according to major media reports, an optimistic turn. Now Representative Ed Markey (D–MA) is raising questions...
Gulf Oil Spill
23 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

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

by Eli Kintisch
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
22 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Good News in Gulf: Government Reduces Area Closed to Fishing by One-Third

by Lauren Schenkman
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
22 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Storm Headed for the Gulf Spill Could Delay Final Fix

by Richard A. Kerr
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, have designated an atmospheric disturbance just south of the Bahamas as Tropical Depression 3. They are calling for it to...
Gulf Oil Spill
21 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Scientists to Thad Allen: Stop 'Massive Re-Engineering' of Gulf Coast

by Erik Stokstad
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
15 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Headcount of Sea Turtles Proves Elusive

by Lauren Schenkman
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
13 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Top Engineers to Investigate Cause of Oil Spill

by Lauren Schenkman
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
12 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Why the Oil Spill Didn't Change the Climate Game: Author Says Blame Obama

by Eli Kintisch
The Senate climate/energy bill expected to emerge this week is likely to lack a cap on greenhouse gases. Even a much-discussed, watered-down version to impose restrictions on the power...
Gulf Oil Spill
8 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Desperate Measures for Oil Spill Draw More Criticism

by Erik Stokstad
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
7 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Researchers Watch For Effects of Oil on the Gulf's Endangered Behemoths

by Lauren Schenkman
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
6 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Science's Richard A. Kerr on the Challenge of Drilling a Relief Well

by Eli Kintisch
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....
si-crab2-th.jpg
2 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil Contamination of Crab Larvae Could Be Widespread

by Erik Stokstad
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
2 July 2010 | ScienceInsider

How the Oil Plume Changed One Scientist's Life

by Erik Stokstad
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
30 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil Dispersant Study Released by EPA, But Big Questions Remain

by Erik Stokstad
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,...
Gulf Oil Spill
29 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Stop the Leak, Get Rich?

by Dolly J. Krishnaswamy
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
29 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Thousands of Sea Turtle Eggs To Be Moved Out of Oil's Way

by Lauren Schenkman
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
28 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Will Floating Seaweed Be Another Oil Casualty?

by Dolly J. Krishnaswamy
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
25 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Analyses of Early Turtle Deaths Do Not Implicate Oil

by Lauren Schenkman
The tally of dead sea turtles found since the Deepwater Horizon disaster hit 417 today. But just nine of those found so far have had visible signs of oil,...
Gulf Oil Spill
23 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Feds Halt Some Louisiana Dredging, Saying It Puts Islands at Risk

by Erik Stokstad
U.S. officials and the state of Louisiana continue to battle over whether the state's attempt to build sand berms that will protect wetlands from oil could damage sensitive barrier...
Gulf Oil Spill
23 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Cruise Raises Questions on Methane, But Much Data Still to Analyze

by Lauren Schenkman
Preliminary results from a research cruise measuring methane in deep water near the gushing BP well point to large concentrations of the gas, but what that means for the...
Gulf Oil Spill
22 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Can Sonar Detect Undersea Oil Plumes?

by Robert F. Service
Among the biggest questions about the Deepwater Horizon spill is how much oil remains underwater and where it is going. Figuring it out has been frustratingly slow with existing...
Gulf Oil Spill
16 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

One Ballsy Proposal to Stop the Leak

by Adrian Cho
Is there a quick way to stop the flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico? One maverick scientist says the answer may be as simple as dropping steel...
Gulf Oil Spill
16 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Obama Raises Profile of Gulf Restoration in Primetime Speech

by Erik Stokstad
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...
Gulf Oil Spill
15 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Oil Flow as Fast as 60,000 Barrels Per Day

by Richard A. Kerr
Administration officials announced late today that the Deepwater Horizon well is most likely gushing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day and possibly even more. The previous best estimates fell...
Gulf Oil Spill
15 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Slick Models Suggest 'It's Anyone's Guess' When Oil Will Reach Atlantic

by Eli Kintisch
BOULDER, COLORADO—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...
Gulf Oil Spill
15 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Scientists Get Seats on Oil Spill Commission

by Erik Stokstad
Two prominent scientists will serve on the presidential commission tasked with investigating the causes of the Deepwater Horizon accident and recommending ways to deal with future oil spills. Cherry...
Gulf Oil Spill
14 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

NOAA Puts Oil Spill Data on One Site

by Lauren Schenkman
Nearly 2 months after the 20 April explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform triggered the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. government has finally...
Gulf Oil Spill
11 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

What the Gulf Disaster Could Tell Us About Sudden Global Warming

by Lauren Schenkman
Could the gushing BP well help explain an ancient climate mystery? Today, a crew of scientists are setting off for roughly 10 days to take measurements near the gushing...
Gulf Oil Spill
10 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

New Estimate Bumps Oil Flow to as Much as 40,000 Barrels a Day

by Lauren Schenkman
One of the government's scientific teams tasked with estimating the rate at which oil is flowing out of the burst well have announced a new figure: Between 20,000 and...
Gulf Oil Spill
10 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Would More Water in the Mississippi Keep Oil From the Wetlands?

by Erik Stokstad
One of the unsung heroes in the fight to save Louisiana's wetlands from the oil spill is the Mississippi River. The flow of fresh water into the Gulf of...
Gulf Oil Spill
9 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Huge Oil Plumes Confirmed, But Effects Remain Unknown

by Erik Stokstad
Researchers have confirmed that two large plumes in the Gulf of Mexico consist, as suspected, of dissolved hydrocarbons. Early analyses of samples from recent cruises have found hydrocarbons up...
Gulf Oil Spill
8 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Scientists, Officials Unite to Speed Seafood Analysis

by Eli Kintisch
Jim Bradford of international analytical chemistry organization AOAC tells ScienceInsider that his group is organizing a meeting on 29 June in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to bring together scientists from state...
si-plume-th.jpg
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

NOAA Asks for Time Out on Oil Plume Research Cruises

by Erik Stokstad
Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yesterday repeated her plea for researchers to be cautious in collecting and interpreting evidence of underwater plumes of...
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Emergency Oil Spill Response—How Sketchy Is It?

by Erik Stokstad
It could be one of the sloppiest engineering plans the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has ever seen—a hand-drawn plan illustrating how engineers would fill in a channel...
si-toxictests.jpg
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Inside NOAA's Toxics Testing Lab

by Eli Kintisch
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON—To measure for the presence of oil in seafood, NOAA's scientists in the gulf region use a team of 10 "expert sniffers" trained to detect the distinctive smell....
Gulf Oil Spill
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Federal Seafood Testers Turn From Clean to Oiled Gulf Seas

by Eli Kintisch
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON—As the oil spill has spread in the Gulf of Mexico, federal seafood toxicologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been racing to sample clean...
si-batfish-th.jpg
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Not Just Pelicans in Peril, But Pancake Batfish, Too

by Lauren Schenkman
As far as oil spill poster animals go, the pancake batfish seems unlikely to capture any hearts. "They're really weird," says Prosanta Chakrabarty, an ichthyologist at Louisiana State University...
Gulf Oil Spill
4 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil Likely Headed North

by Richard A. Kerr
Modelers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, have dramatized what researchers have been pointing out for weeks: Some of the oil being spilled into the Gulf...
Gulf Oil Spill
3 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Moratorium Shuts Down Oceanographer's Research on Deep-Sea Life

by Lauren Schenkman
The six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has had an unintended consequence for one scientist working there. Since 2006, Mark Benfield, an oceanographer at Louisiana...
3 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

At Last, NOAA Plans Oil Spill Data Web Site

by Erik Stokstad
One of the frustrations of academic scientists over the past few weeks has been the difficulty of getting data collected by the federal agencies responding to the oil spill....
si-oilcopter-th.jpg
3 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Sand Berm Funding Grows, But No Cash Yet

by Erik Stokstad
UPDATE: BP has announced that it will fund the six approved sections of the sand berm project, estimated to cost $360 million. The company says it will make payments based...
si-dolphin-th.jpg
3 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

No 'Smoking Gun' for Killer Oil

by Lauren Schenkman
In the last few weeks, 228 dead sea turtles and 29 dead marine mammals have been found in the Gulf of Mexico. But determining why they died is far...
Gulf Oil Spill
2 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

Where Is the Oil Headed?

by Robert F. Service
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) currently tracks wind and tidal data in the gulf. That data has helped offer an initial, course-grained look at the likely path...
Gulf Oil Spill
2 June 2010 | ScienceInsider

For Life Around Deepwater Horizon, Deep Is Relative

by Erik Stokstad
One of the largest remaining unknowns about the impact of the oil is what it will do to corals and other life at the bottom of the Gulf of...
Gulf Oil Spill
28 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Blogging Scientists Tracking 'Second Plume' in Gulf

by Eli Kintisch
Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia is on a 2-week research cruise to study the deepwater plumes from the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. The research vessel Walton Smith...
Gulf Oil Spill
28 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Emergency Toxics Lab Just in Time for Gulf Disaster

by Eli Kintisch
Analytical chemist Vincent Paez, an official with analytical chemistry giant Thermo Fisher Scientific, set up the new Food Safety Response Center in Dreieich, Germany, this year after feeling that...
Gulf Oil Spill
28 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Sand Berm Approved to Fight Oil; Scientists Skeptical

by Erik Stokstad
The state of Louisiana is poised to begin a large experiment in blocking oil from reaching its fragile wetlands. On 27 May, the Army Corps of Engineers granted an...
Gulf Oil Spill
27 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Plumbing the Depths

by Erik Stokstad
NOAA's research vessel Gordon Gunter is headed toward the site of the oil leak to help investigate a key question: How much oil is spreading under water? The 68-meter-long fisheries...
Gulf Oil Spill
27 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Spill Big But Not Enormous, Yet

by Richard A. Kerr
A federally convened expert team has estimated that oil has been gushing from the wrecked Gulf of Mexico well two to four times faster than first guessed. At 12,000...
Gulf Oil Spill
27 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

How to Kill a Well With Gravity

by Richard A. Kerr
Oil giant BP plc has a very long straw stuck 3048 meters into the Gulf of Mexico sea floor with oil and gas spouting out the top at several...
Gulf Oil Spill
26 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Follow the Top-Kill Procedure, Now Under Way

by Eli Kintisch
A helpful animation from CNN explains how mud will slow the oil flow and concrete will stop it completely—if the procedure works. In a detailed, 13-minute video produced by...
Gulf Oil Spill
26 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Toxicity Aside, Dispersants Could Undermine Natural Oil-Eaters

by Eli Kintisch
Dispersants, which include molecules called surfactants, work much like dish detergent, helping clean up oil spills by breaking oil blobs into tiny droplets. Natural microbes in the ocean can...
Gulf Oil Spill
24 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

As Scientists Encounter Oil Some Find Death 'All the Way Down'

by Eli Kintisch and Lauren Schenkman
Scientists in the Gulf of Mexico are beginning to see oil from the blown Deepwater Horizon well intrude on their research sites. Nancy Rabalais, a biological oceanographer at the...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Oil Threat to Florida Waning Fast

by Richard A. Kerr
No one is lowering their guard just yet, but the chances are diminishing that significant amounts of oil from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon spill will soon make it to...
noaa maps combined 2.jpg
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil Reaches Louisiana Marshes in Earnest

by Erik Stokstad with reporting by Lauren Schenkman
After several days of trickles and tarballs, serious oil slicks have arrived on the Louisiana coast. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has 22 biologists in the...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Nix the Florida Tarball

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
It was indeed a tarball that was collected from a Florida Keys beach, but the U.S. Coast Guard has analyzed it and found that it is not from the...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

BP Ordered to Switch Dispersants

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday ordered BP to switch to a dispersant that is less toxic than the ones currently being used, Corexit 9500A and 9527A. Representative Edward Markey (D-MA)...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

First Turtle Rescued

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
Michael Ziccardi, an Oiled Wildlife Care Network veterinarian advising the spill response in Louisiana, blogs that the first oiled turtle since the spill, a 2-pound Kemp's ridley, has been rescued...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

What's Happening to Marine Life?

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
Just after the spill, researchers at the state-funded Dauphin Island Sea Lab off the Alabama coast stepped up their existing research to trawl for plankton along a 56-kilometer stretch south...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

What's Happening to Fisheries?

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
On 18 May, NOAA shut down fisheries in a 118,000-square-kilometer area in the gulf. The move has threatened the lucrative shellfish industry. But the government says it is crucial...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

What's Happening to Life on the Sea Floor?

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
Two types of communities exist on the deep sea floor of the gulf. Where hydrocarbons seep out of the sediment, clams and mussels live with symbiotic bacteria that tap...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

What is Happening With the Oil?

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
The magnitude of the catastrophe will depend on the oil's fate: the amount of oil released, how the oil is transformed chemically and physically, and how far and wide...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

What is Happening to Coastal Ecosystems?

by Richard A. Kerr , Eli Kintisch, Lauren Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad
Coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico have been under siege for decades. Chronic exposure to large amounts of oil could worsen their plight, killing marsh grasses and the creatures...
Gulf Oil Spill
20 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Why Isn't the Oil Floating to the Surface?

by Robert F. Service
Controversy continues to swirl over the size of the Gulf oil spill, with one estimate suggesting as much as 100,000 barrels of oil could be spewing into the water...
hypoxia.JPG
19 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Oil and the Dead Zone

by Lauren Schenkman with reporting by Robert F. Service and Erik Stokstad
As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, a "dead zone" is also having its annual growth spurt. It's not clear how these two complex systems will...
Gulf Oil Spill
17 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Obama Adviser John Holdren on Why We Don't Know the Size of the Oil Gusher

by Eli Kintisch
Academic scientists quoted in stories late last week by NPR and The New York Times suggested that the amount of oil spewing out from the broken pipe on the...
Gulf Oil Spill
12 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

EPA, BP Eyeing Mega-Dispersant Operation

by Eli Kintisch
So far the government and BP have conducted several tests a mile deep in the ocean to deploy an oil spill cleanup technique that's never been attempted before: dispersing...
Gulf Oil Spill
10 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Gulf Spill: Did Pesky Hydrates Trigger the Blowout?

by Richard A. Kerr
Methane-trapping ice of the kind that has frustrated the first attempt to contain oil gushing offshore of Louisiana may have been a root cause of the blowout that started...
Gulf Oil Spill
6 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Cool Cleanup Blog

by Lauren Schenkman
Scientists of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, an organization based at the University of California, Davis, that's advising cleanup efforts in Louisiana, are blogging daily from the front lines...
Gulf Oil Spill
6 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

Four Ways the Gulf Oil Disaster Was Really Bad Timing

by Eli Kintisch
Breeding Season: Invertebrates, sea turtles, and birds will be facing the brunt of the spill just as they are laying eggs or caring for them in important wildlife areas....
Gulf Oil Spill
3 May 2010 | ScienceInsider

As Oil Becomes 'Mousse' Then 'Tarballs,' Chemistry Could Determine Coast's Fate

by Richard A. Kerr
The Deepwater Horizon disaster is no Exxon Valdez, says marine chemist Edward Overton. Instead of a "black tide" of crude oil flushing into marshlands, Overton is looking for mostly...
Gulf Oil Spill
30 April 2010 | ScienceInsider

Researchers Checking Field Sites Threatened by Oil Spill

by Erik Stokstad
Scientists are mobilizing to study the impacts of the oil spill from BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform that is now reaching the coast of Louisiana. Teams from Louisiana State University...
Gulf Oil Spill
30 April 2010 | ScienceInsider

Deepwater Horizon Was Not Pushing the Envelope When It Caught Fire

by Richard A. Kerr
The technological and ecological disaster unfolding on the Gulf Coast may end up being one for the record books, but the tragic failure to contain the deep-seated pressures 7...
Gulf Oil Spill
30 April 2010 | ScienceInsider

Can Microbes Save the Gulf Beaches? The Challenges Are Myriad

by Eli Kintisch
At this point it's unclear how much of an environmental threat oil spreading from the BP spill will cause, but the federal government is mobilizing thousands of workers to...
Gulf Oil Spill
29 April 2010 | ScienceInsider

Two Mysteries Surround Gulf Oil Spill ...

by Eli Kintisch
This morning, officials raised their estimate of the amount of oil spilling out from the destroyed Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico from 1000 to 5000 barrels...
Gulf Oil Spill
29 April 2010 | ScienceInsider

... But Burning Oil is Clear Part of Solution, Say Experts

by Eli Kintisch
Yesterday, in an effort to reduce the amount of oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, crews began igniting parts of the...
 

The Fate of the Oil

Life on the Sea Floor

Marine Life

Coastal Ecosystems

Fisheries and Food

Photo credits: (top) NASA Earth Observatory; (panels: top to bottom) Michon Scott / NASA Earth Observatory, Erik Cordes / Lophelia II 2009, Dave Martin / AP Photos, PHOTOS.COM, NOAA.

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