Tag archives for Oil Spill
Posted by Phenomenal Friday Fact
Did you know there are an average of 27 oil spills around the globe on a daily basis? Some are small scale, but others can be giant, like the Gulf Oil Spill that occurred in 2010.
One-Year Anniversary of Gulf Oil Spill
One year ago, on April 20, 2010, an oil rig called Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill that started with the explosion was the worst in U.S. history. A year after the disaster, the Gulf appears to be bouncing back–at least on the surface. Many animal populations were affected by the oil, and there is still oil in the depths of the Gulf, even if it cannot be seen on the surface. However, scientists warn that the true scope and lasting effects of the oil spill won’t be known for a long time.
Read updates on the state of the Gulf on National Geographic News.
Learn more about the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill on Green Scene.
Photograph courtesy Stephen Lehmann, U.S. Coast Guard
Scientists are working on an eco-friendly substance that will help keep oil from sticking to birds during future oil spills. The substance, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and is currently being tested, will act like a laundry detergent; breaking the oil down and keeping it from sticking to birds’ feathers.
Many errors made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean that led to the explosion
of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, “place in
doubt the safety culture of the entire industry,” says the final report
from President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
The companies and the government
agencies that oversaw the drilling operation were not prepared for the
risks of drilling in deep water. “The technology, laws and regulations,
and practices for containing, responding to, and cleaning up spills lag
behind the real risks associated with deepwater drilling” offshore
and thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. The commission
recommends that the government close these safety gaps and the industry
should follow suit.
Oyster reefs, once so plentiful they blocked shipping traffic, have been in decline due to overharvesting, pollution, and recent oil spill activities, experts say. But scientists are working to restore the reefs using special material called oysterkrete.
How much do you know about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Dead zones are areas of the ocean that no longer have enough oxygen to support sea life. For over 20 years, a dead zone has formed in the gulf due to run off from farms. This year, researchers are worried that the dead zone may increase in size due to the oil spill in the gulf. Microbes consuming oil from the Gulf of Mexico’s BP spill use up oxygen when they die, raising the threat of an expanded dead zone. Scientists are looking at years of dead-zone data to determine whether the dangerous region grew after the spill.
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Oil from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill didn’t affect only the animals that live in the water. As the oil drifted toward land, it moved into the coastal marshes. These areas are challenging to clean–crews can’t burn off the oil the way they can when the oil is on the open water’s surface. Oil in the marshes poses danger to many small creatures that live in marshes that could be harmed by oil seeping in. Even in places where oil is no longer visible in the marshes, the effects can be found. In marsh areas affected by smaller oil spills in years past, researchers have found oil many feet deep in the soil.
See pictures of oil in coastal marshes and learn more on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Hans Deryk, Reuters
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
You don’t see oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico any more. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that it’s gone. It may be affecting creatures such as manta rays, which are filter feeder fish that live in the Gulf. They take in seawater and filter out plankton and small animals to eat. Scientists don’t know much about manta biology, and aren’t positive how the oil that remains in the Gulf will affect the rays. It may disrupt their feeding, breeding, breathing, or migrations. The remaining oil could cause problems for the “ways mantas live their day-to-day lives for years,” said marine biologist Andrea Marshall of the Mozambique-based Foundation for the Protection of Marine Megafauna.
Read more about the manta rays in the Gulf of Mexico on National Geographic News.
How much do you know about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Quiz Your Noodle and find out.
Photograph by Jackie Reid, Flower Garden Banks NMS, NOAA
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began when an oil rig blew up and sank on April 20, 2010. Hundreds of millions of gallons spilled while the companies tried to find a way to stop it. Finally, the oil well was plugged up in mid-September, but the clean up of oil and the research into its effects on wildlife, the ecosystem, and people will go on for decades. To find out more about the spill and its aftermath read stories, take a quiz, and watch videos of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico below.
Quiz Your Noodle: 2010 Oil Spill
See if you have all of the facts on the 2010 oil spill when you take this quiz.
Green Scene: Oil Well in the Gulf of Mexico Capped
Read about the permanent cap placed on the oil well.
Green Scene: Manta Rays Affected by Oil?
Scientists aren’t sure how the remaining oil in the Gulf will affect the manta rays living there.
Green Scene: Oil in Coastal Marshes
Oil isn’t only a problem on the water–it’s a problem in the coastal mashes, too.
President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling recommends that the government agencies and industry need to close safety gaps that led to the disaster.
Green Scene: Substance to Keep Oil Off of Birds?
Scientists are working on an eco-friendly substance that will help keep oil from sticking to birds during future oil spills.
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-104574
Oil Well in the Gulf of Mexico Capped
On September 18, just under 5 months since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been stopped. A cement plug was used to seal off the well, and formal Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen has declared the well “effectively dead.” and no additional oil leaks have been detected.
No oil has leaked out of the well since a temporary cap was put on it in July. The cement plug is a more permanent solution. Between April and July, nearly 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico. Crews have been working to clean up as much as they can, but there is still a lot of oil from the spill in the Gulf.
Read more about the cap on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Gerald Herbert, AP
Content produced by National Geographic. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Award # DRL-1045744
Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are some of the animals impacted by the BP oil spill. Sea turtles, such as leatherback sea turtles, lay their eggs on the beach. When the baby turtles hatch, they make their way to the water. Oil from the spill could injure the baby turtles, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is managing a program to relocate turtle eggs from 700 nests on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The eggs will be hatched at a facility in Florida, and the baby turtles will be released into the ocean from beaches on the Atlantic seashore. Some turtles have already been moved, such as the ones seen above. This picture was taken as the baby turtles were released at Florida’s Cape Canaveral seashore.
Read about the baby turtles and see more pictures on National Geographic News.
Watch a video of the baby turtles being released on National Geographic Kids.
Play Great Turtle Race on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph courtesy Kim Shiflett, NASA
Eleven-year-old Sam Atkin, also known as the Shark Scientist, traveled to the TEDxOilSpill conference in Washington, D.C. last week to hear people such as National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence Sylvia Earle speak about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. NGKids News Bites asked him some questions about the conference.
News Bites: What are you hoping to accomplish by attending the event?
Sam: When I try to figure out a solution to the gulf oil spill, one problem leads to another and I get overwhelmed. I know there are going to be a lot of scientists at the conference and I’m hoping to witness a solution in the making with my video camera. My goal is to understand the problem better and share what I learn in Shark Scientist Magazine [Sam's blog].
News Bites: What can kids to do help with the oil spill?
Sam: I think it would be dangerous for kids to work physically with the oil. We don’t have the judgment and skills of the adults to handle hazardous materials. However, kids in the area can learn about the problem and bring what they know to school. By doing reports and projects about the problem, they can interest friends who have not done the research but are still interested in knowing more. Since that work doesn’t depend on your location, it can be done by kids far and wide. I think the kids in the gulf states have an opportunity to lead the rest of us. [I saw a video] done by VAYLA-NO, they teach about hydrocarbons and hydrosulfide in oil. I didn’t know that. If I saw a blob of oil on the beach, I might play with it before I saw their video. Now I know to keep away. They may not be able to clean birds and stuff, but they made a video that educated me about the dangers of encountering oil at the beach. That’s pretty important to me.
Read more about Sam on Nat Geo News Watch.
Find out more about the oil spill on the GreenScene blog.
The oil that began leaking with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20th continues to spill into the gulf. This oil spill is now the worst in U.S. history.
The spill is taking a heavy toll on wildlife. More than 800 dead animals, including birds, fish, and dolphins, have been found in areas affected by the spill. The number of affected animals seems to have been increasing in the last few days.
Oil is hard to clean up. Try rubbing some olive oil and canola oil on your hair to see how hard it is to clean off. Now imagine trying to clean crude oil off your whole body using your mouth. Oil-coated birds are unable to keep the oil off their feathers, but while there is oil on their feathers they are unable to fly. Rehabilitators are trying to clean some of the birds by rubbing them with vegetable oil, which breaks down the heavier oil, and then washing them with detergents. Because the oil from the spill is toxic, not all cleaned birds will survive.
Scientists are not yet sure how the deaths of so many creatures will affect the Gulf ecosystem.
See more pictures of affected wildlife on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Win McNamee, Getty Images
Last week, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico called the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. It first looked like the oil spill from the accident would be small, but now the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the the damaged pipes from the BP company-owned rig are leaking 5,000 barrels a day.
The oil is thin at the surface, but because the spill is coming from deep underwater, there’s lots of oil in the water that can be seen from above.
The oil has spread over several thousand square miles and has reached the coast of Louisiana.
See more pictures and learn more about the oil spill on National Geographic News.
Read more on NG Kids Green Scene.
Photographs courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA
