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WHOI Scientists Analyze, Explain the Chemical Makeup of Gulf Plume

By Guest PostJuly 20, 2011Environmentaquatic organisms, autonomous underwater vehicle sentry, benzene, btex, chemicals, christopher reddy, conductivity, ctd, dana yoerger, deep sea hydrothermal vents, deep submergence laboratory, deepwater horizon oil spill, depth, ecotoxicological impact of plumes, ethybenzene, gas and oil, gas to oil ratio, gor, gulf of mexico, hydrocarbon containing plume, jeff seewald, judith mcdowell, macondo well, mass spectrometer tethys, milligrams per liter, natural resource damage assessment protocol, nrda, plume, research vessel endeavor, richard camilli, surface spills, temperature, toluene, toxicity levels of btex, undersea life, water soluble petroleum compounds, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, xylenes

Taking another major step in sleuthing the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has determined what chemicals were contained in a deep, hydrocarbon-containing plume at least 22 miles long that WHOI scientists mapped and sampled last summer in the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Moreover, they have taken a big step in explaining why some chemicals, but not others, made their way into the plume.

The findings, published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “help explain and shed light on the plume formation and verify much of what we thought about the plume’s composition,” said WHOI chemist Christopher Reddy, lead author of the study. The data “provide compelling evidence” that the oil component of the plume sampled in June 2010 essentially comprised benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and total xylenes—together, called BTEX—at concentrations of about 70 micrograms per liter, the researchers reported. (more…)

Scientists Discover a New Tiger Shark Hunting Technique

By Guest PostJune 8, 2011Natureacceleration, carl meyer, cosmopolitan predators, depth, digital still cameras, hawaii institute of marine biology, high resolution accelerometers, himb, hunting behavior of tiger sharks, japanese national institute of polar research, prey, reef and pelagic fishes, swimming dynamics, swimming speed, temperature, three dimensional spaces, tiger sharks, unicornfish, university of florida, university of hawaii at manoa, university of tokyo, west coast of hawaii island, yo yo swimming patterns

In a joint research effort between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), University of Tokyo, the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research, and the University of Florida, scientists have shed new light on the hunting behavior of tiger sharks by studying their swimming dynamics off the west coast of Hawai‘i Island. (more…)

WHOI Scientists Map and Confirm Origin of Large, Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2010Environment, Scienceautonomous underwater vehicleauv, bp deepwater horizon, cameron mcIntyre, christopher reddy, conductivity, ctd, dan torres, depth, endeavor, gulf of mexico, marine geochemist, natural oil seeps, oil spill, oxygen, petroleum hydrocarbon, plume of hydrocarbons, research vessel, richard camilli, scientists, sentry, sentry auv, susan k. avery, temperature, tethered yearlong spectrometer, tethys, underwater mass spectrometer, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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WHOI Scientists Analyze, Explain the Chemical Makeup of Gulf Plume

Scientists Discover a New Tiger Shark Hunting Technique

WHOI Scientists Map and Confirm Origin of Large, Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf