Deepwater Horizon spill much worse than originally thought
The worst oil spill in U.S. history was much worse than had been thought, a new study suggests, as the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010 unleashed “toxic and invisible” oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
“According to our findings, the toxic extent of the spill may have been as much as 30% larger than satellite data previously estimated,” said study coauthor Igal Berenshtein of the University of Miami, in a statement.
The findings revealed that a large part of the spill was invisible to satellites, and yet toxic to marine wildlife.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 people and releasing as much 210 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a total of 87 days. Oil slicks from the blowout covered an area estimated at 57,000 square miles.
“While the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been extensively studied, several fundamental questions remained unanswered,” Berenshtein and study lead author Claire Paris, also of the University of Miami, told Newsweek.
Satellites are typically the way researchers track oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon, but this method often underestimates the spill’s actual environmental damage. The scientists in this study used three-dimensional computer simulations and previously published on-site measurements to focus on the oil that was invisible to satellites but toxic to organisms.
“We found that there was a substantial fraction of oil invisible to satellites and aerial imaging,” said Berenshtein, in a statement.
The new findings showed a much wider extent of the spill beyond what could be seen by satellites, as it actually reached the Texas shore, the Florida Keys and even along the east coast of Florida into the Gulf Stream.