Oil polluting the waters of the Gulf.
BP clean-up crew extracting and cleaning up the oil from Gulf shores
Some of the many types of plankton.
Definitions:
BP: an oil exploration and extraction company; originally their name was "British Petroleum" however they legally changed it to 'BP'; BP North America is the segment that specializes in North American oil spills and wells.
Plankton: small, free-floating organisms that make up a huge part of the ocean population, produce most of our oxygen, and are the basis for the marine food web
Summary:
In April, a huge oil spill caused tons of oil to leak into the ocean near an oil-exploration platform called the Deepwater Horizon. This oil created a massive cloud of tiny drops of oil, which was threatening the environment and poisoning species such as those that make up the bottom of the food chain. Though BP North America thought the amount of oil spilling from the well was no more than 5,000 barrels, new data was collected on June 3 that indicated that 16,000 barrels at least have been extracted from the ocean. Scientists guessed that around more than 1 million barrels of oil were still in the Gulf. This data means that the platform that sank, the Deepwater Horizon, had released about four times the oil as the previously largest spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen predicted the oil would continue to spill until it was finally stopped late in the summer, because the oil collection system was ineffective at preventing oil from pouring out of the well. Because much of the oil still has not surfaced, most are worried about where the oil is heading. During an experiment known as DeepSpill, crude oil was let out into the ocean during four tests lasting less than two hours each. In the analysis of this experiment in 2005, Adams and Scott Socolofsky state that of the 60 cubic meters released, only 1 to 17 meters resurfaced. One of the main reasons it is so hard to collect some of the oil is because when very small droplets of very cold oil is mixed with dense water, the mixture becomes neutrally buoyant, so it floats just beneath the surface. Early in June, Samantha Joye from University of Georgia in Athens stated that the water column most affected by the spill was mostly 1,100 to 1,300 meters beneath the surface of the water, rather than the very surface. Since then, the area of the spill has been more contained, and because the BP put a hood onto the well, the spill has been reduced significantly. This oil spill is affecting all branches of marine life, from the larger predators to the tiny invertebrates. Larger fish, although at first safe because they can avoid polluted waters, are eventually harmed because of the food chain. Unlike dolphins or other bigger fish, small or larval fish have a hard time steering clear of oil-fouled water, says Wes Tunnell of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf and Mexico Studies. Plankton, the basis of the marine food chain, cannot avoid oil at all because they float along with the current rather than swimming against it. Although some animals can avoid the oil, they still risk being polluted from the prey that has previously ingested it. Ultimately, all of the marine population of the Gulf is in danger from the spill, which could mean high drops in populations of marine life. Discussion:
I chose this article because it seemed important that because of humans, the most prominent and abundant species of the marine population could be completely wiped out in this particular area. Furthermore, if the plankton in the Gulf die out, a huge portion of our oxygen will disappear as plankton produce more than half of our oxygen. This decrease in oxygen will probably affect us and other oxygen consuming species heavily. In addition, because the plankton and other small organisms and fish are accidentally consuming the oil, larger animals higher in the food chain that prey on the smaller ones ingest it too. This could cause more than just plankton to die out, and possibly, a number of species could go extinct, harming others because of gaps in the food chain. Ultimately, this oil spill should teach us to be more careful with huge oil tankers, because if they are not, most or even all of the organisms living in shallower water could die out, which will eventually come back to harm us in the end.
Questions:
How did the oil tanker crash what exactly caused the collision?
What will happen if all the plankton in this area do die out?
Sources:
Article:
Raloff, Janet. "Surface oil isn't the only threat from the Gulf gusher."
Science Reference Center. EBSCO, 3 July 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2010.
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