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Articles on Deepwater Horizon

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Response teams often make assumptions about the way oil behaves in the ocean, but this means oil plumes can go undetected and get missed in the clean-up. (Shutterstock)

How autonomous underwater robots can spot oil plumes after an ocean spill

Clean-up operations after a spill can miss large quantities of the oil, with severe risks for marine habitats, fish and birds.
Researchers use Atlantic mackerel for bait on long-lining fishing sampling expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico.. C-IMAGE Consortium

Scientists have found oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout in fishes’ livers and on the deep ocean floor

The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster catalyzed a decade of research on oil contamination in the Gulf of Mexico, from surface waters to the seabed, with surprising findings.
A satellite image of the oil slick as it looked in late May 2010, a month after the Deepwater Horizon well exploded. The oil plume looks grayish white. NASA/Goddard/Jen Shoemaker and Stu Snodgrass

A decade after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, offshore drilling is still unsafe

The BP Deepwater Horizon blowout on April 20, 2010 triggered the largest offshore oil spill in history. Ten years later, post-spill reforms are being undone and the Gulf of Mexico remains vulnerable.
The oil rig explosion in Deepwater Horizon (2016), a film about the worst oil spill in US history. © Lionsgate

Friday essay: the Rise and Fall of oil in popular culture

The search for oil was once depicted in movies and books as a boys’ own adventure. But as films such as Deepwater Horizon show, in an age of anxieties over fossil fuels, oil’s story is now a darker one.
U.S. Coast Guard vessels battle the fire on the Deepwater Horizon while searching for survivors from the rig’s 126-person crew. U.S. Coast Guard/Wikipedia

‘Deepwater Horizon’ honors oil rig workers but oversimplifies the blowout

The new movie ‘Deepwater Horizon’ depicts the blowout that triggered the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A professor of petroleum engineering assesses what the film gets right and wrong.

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