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Four WHOI Scientists Contribute to First Comprehensive Picture of the Fate of Oil from Deepwater H…
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&tid=282&cid=125669&ct=162[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]News Release : Four WHOI Scientists Contribute to First Comprehensive Picture of the Fate of Oil from Deepwater Horizon Spill[/font]
January 9, 2012
Media Relations Office
93 Water Street MS #16
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[font size=3]…
“This paper is exciting for several reasons,” said Reddy, a WHOI senior scientist who specializes in oil spills. “This is a study based on data from the Gulf and not on models, and it tells the big picture of this spill just 18 months after the leak was capped – a remarkably short amount of time.” Reddy further emphasized the importance of the array of scientists Ryerson assembled to help tell this story. “He brought together key players to analyze relatively new data that came from an impressive array of sampling techniques.”
In addition to hydrocarbon data Ryerson collected from overflights on NOAA P-3 planes and other air samples from research vessels, the paper incorporates data collected by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) using a unique device developed by Seewald to sample the leaking fluid at the well, as well as data from the WHOI–designed and -built autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry outfitted with a miniaturized mass spectrometer developed by Camilli. Additionally, it uses many water samples from various depths taken and analyzed by Reddy, Camilli, Kujawinski, and others, using finely-tuned analytical instruments and techniques to track minute amounts of the oil and gas components.
When combined, the data tell a story about the fate of the oil and gas in the air, on the surface and in the ocean and enabled a new chemistry-based spill rate estimate of an average of 11,130 tons of gas and oil compounds per day – close to the official average leak rate estimate of about 11,350 tons of gas and oil per day (equal to about 59,200 barrels of liquid oil per day). In total, approximately 4.2 million barrels of oil were released from the well.
Ryerson and his colleagues determined that the visible surface slick represented about 15 percent of the total leaked gas and oil; the airborne plume accounted for about another 7 percent. About 36 percent remained in an underwater plume of droplets about 3,300-4,300 feet below the surface, and 17 percent was recovered directly at the surface through a marine riser. The location of the balance, about 25 percent of the total, is not directly accounted for by the chemical data.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110052108January 9, 2012
Media Relations Office
93 Water Street MS #16
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[font size=3]…
“This paper is exciting for several reasons,” said Reddy, a WHOI senior scientist who specializes in oil spills. “This is a study based on data from the Gulf and not on models, and it tells the big picture of this spill just 18 months after the leak was capped – a remarkably short amount of time.” Reddy further emphasized the importance of the array of scientists Ryerson assembled to help tell this story. “He brought together key players to analyze relatively new data that came from an impressive array of sampling techniques.”
In addition to hydrocarbon data Ryerson collected from overflights on NOAA P-3 planes and other air samples from research vessels, the paper incorporates data collected by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) using a unique device developed by Seewald to sample the leaking fluid at the well, as well as data from the WHOI–designed and -built autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry outfitted with a miniaturized mass spectrometer developed by Camilli. Additionally, it uses many water samples from various depths taken and analyzed by Reddy, Camilli, Kujawinski, and others, using finely-tuned analytical instruments and techniques to track minute amounts of the oil and gas components.
When combined, the data tell a story about the fate of the oil and gas in the air, on the surface and in the ocean and enabled a new chemistry-based spill rate estimate of an average of 11,130 tons of gas and oil compounds per day – close to the official average leak rate estimate of about 11,350 tons of gas and oil per day (equal to about 59,200 barrels of liquid oil per day). In total, approximately 4.2 million barrels of oil were released from the well.
Ryerson and his colleagues determined that the visible surface slick represented about 15 percent of the total leaked gas and oil; the airborne plume accounted for about another 7 percent. About 36 percent remained in an underwater plume of droplets about 3,300-4,300 feet below the surface, and 17 percent was recovered directly at the surface through a marine riser. The location of the balance, about 25 percent of the total, is not directly accounted for by the chemical data.
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