Top Research Note

Residue Discovered

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:07:50 GMT

Drs. Thomas Bianchi and Shari Yvon-Lewis, GISR PIs, along with others published their results in Environmental Science and Technology. Their work shows the presence of oil-derived dissolved organic matter, with high optical yields, in deep water fifteen months after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Seawater samples were collected from the Gulf of Mexico during a cruise in July 2012 and analyzed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic (DIC) and optical properties. Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) modeling has shown that, while the DOC concentrations have decreased since just after the Deepwater Horizon spill, some components linked to oil degradation remain higher at certain stations than they are in other areas of the Gulf of Mexico. For more on this please see: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es501547b

Young Drifters

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:56:44 GMT

Alek B. at SeaAlek is, he writes, “really concerned about an oil spill happening in the Salish Sea.” He wants to investigate the likely trajectory of oil in the event that it was accidentally released by oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, noting “the water along the oil tanker routes is habitat for more than 100 endangered or threatened species, including the orca whale.” As Lead Scientist of the project, Alek plans to release – this month – 400 biodegradable and non-toxic drift cards at a point between Peapod Rocks and Buckeye Shoals in Rosario Strait next to the San Juan Archipelago. He manufactured the cards himself with help from his father and grandfather. As drift cards come in, Alek plans to map their locations and calculate trajectories and speeds to simulate movement of an oil spill.

Alek B. paints his cards in his garage at home.Alek created a website for his project where he summarizes his research questions and hypotheses, and where people finding drift cards may go to report them (http://oilspillscience.org). The GISR group is impressed and inspired by Alek’s hard work and dedication to scientific discovery; we wish him success and look forward to his research results. We encourage you to visit his project website.

China Meeting

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:34:45 GMT

In October 2013, a GISR scientists Ping Chang, Piers Chapman, Rob Hetland, John Kessler, Scott Socolofsky and Terry Wade, along with Ed Buskey from the DROPPS consortium, travelled to Qingdao to take part in a workshop on Deepwater Oil Spills put on by the Cooperative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology of the Ocean University of China.Mandy Joye (ECOGIG) was also scheduled to take part but her participation was curtailed because of an impending visit by the GoMRI Research Board. Our host, Academician Lixin Wu, is well-known to the Department of oceanography at TAMU through his work on physical oceanography and climate modeling with Ping Chang.The International Symposium on Deep-sea Oil Spill and Offshore Oil-Gas Exploitation was held in Qingdao, China. (Photo courtesy of Ocean University China)

While most of us had a relatively uneventful trip over the weekend to Qingdao via Chicago and Beijing, John Kessler's travel encountered only setbacks. His first problem came when the airline cancelled his flight from Rochester, NY to Chicago. Rerouting via New York meant he missed his original connection in Beijing, but frantic emailing and phone calls between the U.S. and China during layovers between flights meant he could be booked on a later flight to Qingdao. However, nobody allowed for the flight from New York arriving late in Beijing, so that he was forced to find a hotel for the night and catch an early flight the next day. He eventually arrived just before lunch on Monday, looking none the worse for his experiences.

The meeting was organized to allow U.S. researchers to share their experiences of oil spills, in particular the Deepwater Horizon blowout, with Chinese researchers. In addition to the GoMRI researchers, other invited experts were Michel Boufadel (New Jersey Institute for Technology), Cort Cooper (Chevron), Ken Lee (CSIRO, Australia) and Steven Buschang (Texas General Land Office). On the Chinese side, we heard a welcoming video address by Mr. Guangqi Wu, Vice General Manager of the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, as well as talks from Lijun Mi (CNOOC), Hui Wang (National Marne Environmental Forecasting Center) and several researchers from Ocean University who are working on various aspects of oil pollution.Dr. Piers Chapman (center), GISR consortium director and symposium co-chair responds to the introductory welcome on behalf of the overseas guests. From L to R, meeting host Academician Lixin Wu from Ocean University China (OUC); Mr. Huajun Li, Vice-president of OUC; and Mr. Qiang Wu, Secretary-General, Chinese National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service. (Photo courtesy of Ocean University China)

China has been drilling shallow wells in the Bohai Gulf and East China Sea, and has suffered at least two major spills of >1,000 tons oil in the process. While there is a national spill response group, which is planned to expand considerably, the country is not presently equipped to respond to a major deep water blowout, even though the Chinese started deep offshore drilling in the South China sea in May 2012. The country is, however, becoming very active in ocean observation, with a massive monitoring program ramping up in the South China Sea and additional monitoring planned for the East China Sea.

Rob Hetland (Professor of Oceanography at Texas A&M University) and Dr. Wensheng Jiang (Dean, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, OUC and Co-Chair of the symposium) discuss Hetland’s model of the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Ocean University China)Following the formal talks from both sides, we held a discussion session on major problems and unknowns. While there are many similarities between the East and South China Seas and the Gulf of Mexico (e.g., both suffer from tropical storms), there are also major differences, such as ice in the Bohai Gulf, much larger tidal ranges than in the Gulf of Mexico, or internal solitary waves, so mixing processes may be very different. The proposed South China Sea monitoring program, which includes 40 deep moorings, will certainly improve information on the physical oceanography of this area. Other points discussed included the possible use of inert tracers, integrated model suites, and chemical analytical capability.

The group took time in the evenings to enjoy downtown Qingdao, (photo courtsey Piers Chapman)As usual, we were treated exceptionally well by our hosts, who treated us to some memorable meals and provided transport and touristic opportunities around Qingdao. The latter included visits to the Beer Museum (Qingdao's brewery was founded by the Germans at the beginning of the 20th century) and to the Laoshan Monastery, an oasis of calm on the coast outside the city. We are really appreciative of the hospitality shown to us during our short visit, and hope we can assist the Chinese as they confront the difficulties of deep offshore drilling around their coasts.

Spill Science Advances

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:43:38 GMT

Since August 2011, eight research consortia funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) have been working hard to understand impacts from and responses to the Deepwater Horizon incident. Their work represents the efforts of over 1,000 people, including 400 scientists and 275 graduate students, from over 100 national and international institutions.

When asked about accomplishments, the research directors identified progress in areas of the food web, dispersants, marshes, oil fate, and prediction capabilities – all with implications for environmental and public health. These advances contribute to building a better understanding of recovery, damage, and response. Read more.

Dream Team

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 07:22:25 GMT

Five Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) consortia quickly responded to the Hercules Gas Blowout by organizing a Rapid Response team that traveled from Cocodrie, Louisiana to the blowout site to gather valueable data. The Rapid Response Team was comprised of members of GISR as well as ECOGIG, CWC, CARTHE and C-IMAGE. To find out more about this Rapid Response, read more.

Hungry Bugs

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 07:05:23 GMT

Scientists who tracked deep underwater oil and gas plumes after the Deepwater Horizon incident concluded that the respiration of dissolved and trapped hydrocarbons resulted in reduced dissolved oxygen concentrations from a bloom of hydrocarbon-eating bacteria.

These naturally occurring microbes then consumed an estimated 200,000 tons of hydrocarbons, and the study suggests that the use of dispersants at the wellhead increased the speed of this process. The researchers published their findings in the August 2012 edition of Environmental Science and Technology: Assessment of the spatial and temporal variability of bulk hydrocarbon respiration following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Working from May to September 2010, researchers measured over 1300 dissolved oxygen profiles. They tracked this deep water hydrocarbon feast in all directions around the wellhead, an area of almost 30,000 square miles. The team analyzed the data to determine the quantity of oil and gas that bacteria consumed and to characterize how this consumption changed with time. Analyses showed that the decrease in dissolved oxygen and increase in microbes followed the movement of the oil plumes generally toward the southwest from the spill site. After estimating the amount of hydrocarbons released into the Gulf and the amount consumed by bacteria, the researchers provided the first estimated measurements of how the rate of respiration changed during the period of 5 months following the incident. From these calculations, the team found "that the addition of dispersants to the wellhead eﬀectively accelerated hydrocarbon respiration."

In their discussions, the researchers suggest that tracking and analyzing dissolved oxygen in the plumes is "an easy and effective approach" to estimate hydrocarbon release and respiration rates, and ultimately use that information to quantify the amount of oil consumed by bacteria after a spill. The authors further suggest that for future events, an effort "to sample an organized network, similar to the NOAA 'clean sweep' grid" would be an effective way to quantify hydrocarbon release and thus provide the necessary information to estimate environmental impact and inform recovery decisions.
The study authors are Mengran Du and John D. Kessler (Environmental Science and Technology 2012, 46 (19), pp 10499-10507).

View a video interview with co-author Kessler. Read announcements from the University of Rochester and Texas A&M University.

This research was made possible in part by a Grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) through the Gulf of Mexico Integrated Spill Response (GISR) Consortium. The GoMRI is a 10-year, $500 million independent research program established by an agreement between BP and the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon incident and the potential associated impact of this and similar incidents on the environment and public health.

Acticle courtesy of the BP/Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Humans and Oil

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 06:36:19 GMT

Director of GISR, Piers Chapman, was featured along with other Gulf Science Directors in an article that provides information about the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and how it continues to affect the people of the Gulf of Mexico. The independent research done by GISR scientists and the sister alliances of GoMRI works to inform, empower, and to support the Gulf.

For more information see the flyer.

Tracing Oil

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 06:14:18 GMT

Near the Deepwater Horizon spill site, researchers are investigating mixing patterns in the deep ocean by following the path of an inert tracer, trifluoromethyl sulfur pentafluoride, injected at about 1,100 meters depth and recording ocean conditions along the way (read more).

Forecasts

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 06:12:16 GMT

This is an automated deterministic forecast system that contains the following components:

Initialization and Pre-processing: at a given time of a day, the system software is automated to download the 3-day forecast data (on a 12-km grid) from NOAA's North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) (www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/nam/) and the ocean forecast data (on a approximately 5-km grid) from NOAA's Atlantic Real-Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) (polar.ncep.noaa.gov/ofs/), and pre-process the data sets on the 3-km forecast model grid to obtain initial and boundary conditions for both the ocean and atmosphere;
Forecast: initialized by the NOAA NAM and RTOFS forecasts, the coupled model is integrated for 3 days and produces 6-hourly forecast data for both the atmosphere and ocean;
Post-processing: while forecasts are being produced, the system post-processes the results, producing graphics of forecast results and uploading them onto a webpage.

An example of the forecast can be viewed at sc.tamu.edu/crcm/archive.php. The data set archived on the threads server contains all the 6-hourly 3-D atmosphere model (WRF) and ocean model (ROMS) output during the period from July 26 to September 4, 2012. This forecast effort was in support of a tracer release experiment in the Gulf of Mexico led by Jim Ledwell.

Bay Modeling 1

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 05:54:52 GMT

1) Collation of historical measurements for the model setup and validation
2) Inspection and analysis of these numerous data sources
3) Setup of the hydrodynamic model
4) Post-processing and validation of the model results
5) Iterative improvement of the model setup.

Each of these tasks can be broken down into various sub-tasks that are listed in Table 1 along with their completion status. The main tasks completed to date are: the generation of a high-resolution, unstructured model grid (Figures 1 and 2) and the collection and analysis of recent hydrodynamic observations (Figure 3).

Oil Modeling

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 01:24:17 GMT

Collaborators: Oliver Fringer (PI), Ed Gross and Matt Rayson (Stanford University), Ben Hodges (Univ. of Texas), Rob Hetland (Texas A&M Univ.)

Predicting the transport and fate of pollutants in the natural environment is an important application for numerical circulation models. We have applied the numerical model SUNTANS to investigate the transport pathways for oil and other tracers within the Gulf of Mexico nearshore bays. The main benefit for using a high-resolution 3D numerical model to simulate the transport is to reveal that dispersion is an inhomogeneous process and is enhanced near regions of complex topography - such as the constriction in the animation below - and/or in regions of strong baroclinicity. Numerical simulations like this can give a better estimate of defining regions susceptible to exposure to these pollutants.

View the animation at http://www.stanford.edu/~mrayson/Research.html#oil-spill

Animation showing the release of a passive tracer in the SUNTANS model from the March 22nd 2014 barge spill site in Galveston Bay, TX. The tracer has an initial concentration of 1.0 and the color scale shows up to 1/1000th of the initial value. All times are in GMT. Note that since this tracer is passive, it does not behave exactly as oil would, in particular these are no buoyancy or weathering effects; there is no additional influence of wind stress on the plume. We maintain no guarantee as to the validity of these results.

Transport Modeling

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 01:29:43 GMT

These simulations were run in the premiere model of the continental shelf of Texas and Louisiana, which was developed by Dr. Hetland at Texas A&M University. Particle tracking within the model allows for researchers to follow where material, in this case oil, will be transported due to the circulation patterns in the flows. This capability has been developed by Dr. Thyng, also at Texas A&M. In addition to oil transport depending on its release in time, its pathways also depend on where it was released. This fundamental difficulty of oil tracking leads GISR to investigate what processes are most significant for the transport of oil, and how these change in space and time. Some of the processes have trends that change with conditions each year, with the seasons, or with the shorter-term weather events.

This figure shows the integral pathways of drifters released at the surface near the Deepwater Horizon spill site in May, the first full month that oil was being released, with each subplot showing drifters started in different years. All of the years have a strong signal of oil offshore, to the edge of the numerical domain (indicated by a dotted line) and beyond. 2010, the actual year of the spill, shows a small amount of oil heading westward from the spill site. However, 2006 shows no oil to the west, whereas 2007 showed a strong westward signal.

Better understanding the underlying factors at work would aid in the future prediction of spill trajectories.

For a more detailed view of this image, please click here.

Bay Modeling 2

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 01:33:27 GMT

The model was forced with realistic wind, river, tides and atmospheric heat fluxes; moreover, the Gulf of Mexico open boundary conditions were coupled to a shelf-scale ROMS model. The spatial and temporal variability observable in these animations is a direct consequence from the changes in forcing; for example, the surface temperature oscillates with a daily cycle and also a yearly cycle, largely due to changes in solar radiation. The surface salinity field primarily responded to changes in river discharge on a seasonal and inter-annual time scale; it is clear from these animations, for example, that 2011 was a drought period that resulted in high salinity in the bay compared with the other years. Multi-year hydrodynamic hindcasts like these allow us to examine the estuarine response under a variety of different conditions and how this influences processes such as transport within the bay as well as the bay-gulf exchange.

Each animation is half a gig. Click on image to run animation.

Climate Model

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 01:35:20 GMT

To access the Coupled Regional Climate Model (CRCM) please go to http://sc.tamu.edu/crcm/. The website includes current forecasts and the forecast archives. The website is updated every 15 minutes between 9:00am to 9:00pm CT during active forecasting days.

The program, which was funded as a direct result of the disastrous BP Macondo well blowout in 2010, is led by faculty at Texas A&M University under the direction of Dr. Piers Chapman (Department of Oceanography). It includes faculty from a number of other institutions, including Woods Hole. This research was made possible by a grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and in part by a grant from DOE's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program.

Surface Salinity on the Shelf 2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 20:53:45 GMT

Surface Drifters

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 20:55:21 GMT