Deepwater Horizon

As new and more intense forms of marine pollution threaten coastal ecosystems, economies, and communities, scientists from NOAA OR&R collaborate with leading experts on topics like marine debris, environmental economics, endangered species, environmental chemistry, and many other subjects that intersect with pollution science. This blog highlights some recently published scientific advances supporting pollution response and assessment.

At the very bottom of the Gulf of Mexico live deep-sea corals—soft, alien versions of their more familiar shallow water cousins. For eons, deep-sea corals thrived in the depths, providing shelter for smaller denizens like brittlestars, sponges, and crabs. Until one day, dirty snow from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill descended upon them.

Imagine the perfect day at the beach, lying in the sand, fishing from the pier, maybe taking a boat out on the water. Then an oil spill occurs, and the beach is no longer a fun place to be. When an oil spill or other pollutant keeps people from enjoying a natural area, it’s up to agencies like NOAA, acting as public trustees of affected areas, to determine the impact of pollution on public recreation. 

2021 marks 30 years of NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (DARRP) working to hold polluters accountable for the impacts of oil spills, hazardous waste, and ship groundings in waterways. When oil spills and hazardous waste pollution impact protected species like sea turtles, whales, and dolphins, NOAA experts use leading science to assess the impacts and hold polluters accountable. 

From March 30 to April 20, tune in as we go back in time to the day of our country’s largest marine oil spill, what’s happened since then, and how we’re better prepared for future spills. In our final blog we provide on overview of some of the advances in science we’ve discussed in-depth throughout the last three weeks.

From March 30 to April 20, tune in as we go back in time to the day of our country’s largest marine oil spill, what’s happened since then, and how we’re better prepared for future spills. In our latest blog, learn more about the research and discoveries that have been made about dolphins since Deepwater Horizon.

The young loggerhead sea turtle, its ridged shell only a few inches across, perches calmly among a floating island of brown seaweed called sargassum. Suddenly, a shadow passes overhead. A hungry seabird? Taking no chances, the small sea turtle dips beneath the ocean surface. It dives through the sargassum's tangle of branches and bladders filled with air, which keep everything afloat. Open ocean stretches for miles around the free-floating sargassum mats — which provide critical refuge to juvenile sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico — as they drift slowly with the currents. Unfortunately, these currents can just as easily push floating oil. This puts sargassum and all the creatures it supports in the path of oil spills.