Preliminary Report on Microplankton and Microbenthon Responses to 1979 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills (Ixtoc I and Burmah Agate), with Comments on Avenues of Oil to Sediments and Fate of Oil in Column and on Bottom: ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT As part of a joint program to use satellite-tracked drifters at accidental oil spills, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed three drifters supplied by the Minerals Management Service during the barge Buffalo 292 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The deployments complemented visual observations of the oil spill and provided data for calibrating the on-scene spill model. The data-rich environment of this particular spill response made it possible to calculate the vector correlation between the drifters and a hindcast of the oil movement and to estimate the wind-drift factors for the oil-tracking drifters.

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The Northern Gulf of Mexico

10.1093/oso/9780192843463.003.0007 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 283-342

Author(s):

Jason S. Link ◽

Anthony R. Marshak

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Fisheries Management ◽

Human Population ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Penaeid Shrimp ◽

Marine Species ◽

Eastern Oyster ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management ◽

The U.S

This chapter describes the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region and the major issues facing this marine fisheries ecosystem, and presents some summary statistics related to the 90 indicators of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) criteria. The region contains high numbers of marine species comprising commercially and recreationally important invertebrate (e.g., penaeid shrimp, blue crab, eastern oyster) and finfish (e.g., red snapper, grouper, red drum, pelagic sportfishes) fisheries, which contribute heavily to national landings and seafood supply. The northern GOM contains one of the nation’s largest marine economies (among the eight U.S. regional marine ecosystems), which is dependent on offshore mineral extractions, tourism, marine transportation, living marine resources (LMRs), and other ocean uses. The GOM provides critical social and economic benefits to the region and the nation, is a region with high numbers of managed species, yet exploitation of these resources and an increasing human population makes the GOM an area subject to significant natural and human stressors, including the highest number of hurricanes in the U.S. Atlantic region, large expanses of hypoxic bottom water, overfishing, and major oil spills like the 2010 DWH event.

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Oil Spills, Workplace Safety and Firm Size: Evidence from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico OCS

The Energy Journal ◽

10.5547/issn0195-6574-ej-vol18-no4-3 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Omowumi O. Iledare ◽

Allan G. Pulsipher ◽

David E. Dismukes ◽

Dmitry Mesyanzhinov

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Firm Size ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Workplace Safety ◽

The U.S

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MODELING DEEPWATER OIL SPILLS WITH NEAR FIELD AND FAR FIELD MODELS

International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings ◽

10.7901/2169-3358-2005-1-725 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 2005 (1) ◽

pp. 725-730

Author(s):

Zhen-Gang Ji ◽

Walter R. Johnson ◽

Charles F. Marshall ◽

James M. Price

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Deep Water ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Field Model ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Near Field ◽

Far Field ◽

Oil Gas ◽

The U.S

ABSTRACT As a Federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Minerals Management Service (MMS) maintains a leasing program for commercial oil and gas development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Oil and gas activities in deep water (areas deeper than 340 meters) have proceeded at an unprecedented rate, and have led to concerns regarding the accidental release of oil near the seafloor. As production increases, the potential for an oil/gas spill increases. In addition to the environmental impacts of the oil spilled, major concerns from a deepwater oil/gas spill include fire, toxic hazard to the people working on the surface installations, and loss of buoyancy by ships and any floating installations. Oil and natural gas releases in deep water behave much differently than in shallow water, primarily due to density stratification, high pressures, and low temperatures. It is important to know whether oil will surface and if so, where, when, and how thick the oil slick will be. To meet these new challenges, spill response plans need to be upgraded. An important component of such a plan would be a model to simulate the behavior of oil and gasses accidentally released in deep water. This has significant implications for environmental impact assessment, oil-spill cleanup, contingency planning, and source tracing. The MMS uses the Clarkson Deepwater Oil and Gas Blowout (CDOG) plume model to simulate the behavior of oil and gas accidentally released in deepwater areas. The CDOG model is a near field model. In addition, MMS uses an adaptation of the Princeton Ocean Model called the Princeton Regional Ocean Forecast and Hindcast System for the Gulf of Mexico (PROFS-GOM). This model is a far field model and is employed to provide three dimensional current, temperature, and salinity data to the CDOG model. The PROFS-GOM model and the CDOG model are used to simulate deepwater oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. Modeling results indicate that the two models can provide important information on the behavior of oil spills in deepwater and assist MMS in estimating the associated environmental risks. Ultimately, this information will be used in the pertinent environmental impact assessments MMS performs and in the development of deepwater oil-spill response plans.

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Exploratory Data Analysis of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Measurements to Distinguish the Sea Surface Expressions of Naturally-Occurring Oil Seeps from Human-Related Oil Spills in Campeche Bay (Gulf of Mexico)

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi6120379 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (12) ◽

pp. 379 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gustavo Carvalho ◽

Peter Minnett ◽

Fernando de Miranda ◽

Luiz Landau ◽

Eduardo Paes

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Synthetic Aperture Radar ◽

Exploratory Data Analysis ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Synthetic Aperture ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Oil Seeps ◽

Exploratory Data

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Into the Benthos and Back: What have Infauna Taught Us

International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings ◽

10.7901/2169-3358-2021.1.685153 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Paul A. Montagna

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Mississippi River ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽

Biologically Active ◽

River Outflow ◽

Exploration And Production ◽

Long Time ◽

Hydrocarbon Exploration And Production

ABSTRACT ID 685153 Because of death and gravity, the bottom of the sea is the memory of the ecosystem, where a record of all past events can be found as you move into deeper layers of sediment. Thus, benthos are primary indicators for environmental assessments. As hydrocarbon exploration and production moved to deeper waters, so did environmental studies. But there were only a few Gulf-wide surveys in the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico, and our understanding of deep-sea processes was based primarily on other regions of the world. The intensive focus on deep-sea response during and after the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident increased our knowledge dramatically. We learned that the deep sea is dynamic, fragile, and will take a long time to recover. There was a 50% loss of biodiversity within 9 km diameter around the DWH site, and a 10% within a 17 km of the site. But there is still much to learn. The deep-sea is a reservoir of biodiversity on Earth, but about 60% of Gulf of Mexico taxa are still unknown, which is a major hinderance to understanding the effects of oil spills. The northern Gulf of Mexico is dominated by Mississippi River outflow, but exactly how it drives deep-sea dynamics needs better resolution. Two outcomes of the last decade of research is that we know benthos diversity is a sensitive indicator of environmental change and damage, the surface sediments are the biologically active zones, and the natural process of sinking particles will eventually cover the damaged sediment leading to natural recovery. This “restoration in place” strategy must be confirmed by future monitoring and assessment studies.

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