'Invisible' oil from Deepwater Horizon spread further than thought

Toxic ‘invisible’ oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill may have spread much further than previously thought – reaching as far as TEXAS and the East Florida shelf

  • Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 is the worst oil spill in US history
  • 210 million gallons of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days 
  • But study finds a toxic and invisible chemical from the oil was wide-reaching 
  • It was not contained and spread as far as Texas, New Orleans and Miami  

BP’s catastrophic Deepwater Horizon disaster released millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and devastated wildlife.   

But new research reveals it was worse than previously feared and an invisible chemical in the oil that is toxic to animals spread well beyond its known footprint.

A study found that even when visible oil had been cleaned up, invisible toxic chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) lingered for weeks. 

These reached beyond the limitations of the US government’s measures to stop the oil spreading and were found as far afield as the East Florida shelf and Texas. 

The PAHs were found in the livers of dead fish that died from the disaster that also had external skin lesions.

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Non-toxic chemicals spread up the Atlantic coast from the Deepwater Horizon disaster site but the toxic and invisible chemicals managed to evade the confinment protections in place from the US government which focused on visible oil (pictured)

Invisible toxic chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) reached beyond the limitations of the US government’s measures to stop the oil spreading and reached as far as the East Florida shelf and the Texas shores 

BP’s catastrophic Deepwater Horizon disaster released millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and devastated wildlife as oil drenched fish, birds and mammals alike 

Researchers combined oil-transport modelling techniques with remote sensing data and in-water sampling to provide a comprehensive look at the oil spill. 

‘We found that there was a substantial fraction of oil invisible to satellites and aerial imaging,’ said the study’s lead author Igal Berenshtein from the University of Miami. 

‘The spill was only visible to satellites above a certain oil concentration at the surface leaving a portion unaccounted for. 

‘According to our findings, the toxic extent of the spill may have been as much as 30 per cent larger than satellite data previously estimated,’ he adds.

After the Deepwater Horizon spill on April 20 2010, 210 million gallons (795 million litres) of live oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days. 

Oil slicks covered an estimated area of 57,500 square miles (149,000 square km) — an area the same size as England and Wales combined.

It was the worst oil spill in US history and data from satellites was used to determine which areas to close for fishing.  

This was, in the large part, a success, the new study found. 

It discovered that the fishery closures captured 82 per cent of the total oil mass in the domain.

But the closed fishery areas only accounted for 54 per cent of the total area covered by oil.

Scientists say their findings have important implications for environmental health during future oil spills. 

The study mapped the spread and found on-toxic oil was swept away up the Atlantic coast of Florida via the looping current of the Gulf of Mexico. 

While the invisible toxic oil  did not reach as far, it did span from Miami to New Orleans. 

The researchers say this information will be of use for mapping future oil disasters.  

‘Our results change established perceptions about the consequences of oil spills by showing that toxic and invisible oil can extend beyond the satellite footprint at potentially lethal and sub-lethal concentrations to a wide range of wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico,’ said Claire Paris, professor of ocean sciences at the University of Miami.   

‘This work added a third dimension to what was previously seen as just surface slicks. 

‘This additional dimension has been visualised with more realistic and accurate oil spill models developed with a team of chemical engineers and more efficient computing resources.’ 

DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL

The Deepwater Horizon disaster took place on April 20, 2010, and led to the death of 11 workers

The rig blew on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers, and spewed 210million gallons of oil into the Gulf through the summer.  

It is regarded as the worst environmental catastrophe in US history. 

Scientists are still trying to figure where all the oil went and what effects it had.

The BP drilling rig exploded in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing about 72 million gallons of oil into the Gulf through the summer

BP was suspended from performing any new government work in America in November 2012, after it agreed to plead guilty and pay a $4.5billion fine (£2.8billion) for criminal charges over the Deepwater Horizon disaster. 

The disaster left lingering oil residues which have altered life in the ocean by reducing biodiversity in sites closest to the spill.

In a recent study, researchers took sediment samples from shipwrecks scattered up to 150km (93 miles) from the spill site to study how microbial communities on the wrecks changed. 

On two shipwrecks close to the source of the the plume of oil – the German U-166 submarine and a wooden 19th-century sailing vessel – scientists saw a visible oil residue. 

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