Exposure to oil — and possibly the chemicals used to clean up oil spills — has made corals prone to breaking and showing signs of high stress, even today.
Exposure to oil — and possibly the chemicals used to clean up oil spills — has made corals prone to breaking and showing signs of high stress, even today.
Deep-water corals in the Gulf of Mexico are still struggling to recover from the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, scientists report at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans. Comparing images of more than 300 corals over 13 years — the longest time series of deep-sea corals to date — reveals that in some areas, coral health continues to decline to this day.
The spill slathered hundreds of miles of shoreline in oil, and a slick the size of Virginia coated the ocean surface. Over 87 days, 134 million gallons of oil spilled directly from the wellhead at a depth of 1520 meters (nearly 5000 feet) into the Gulf. While the spill was most visible at the surface, negative ecological impacts extended hundreds of meters into the ocean.
In a presentation on Tuesday, 20 February, scientists will show that deep-water corals remain damaged long after the spill. Over 13 years, these coral communities have had limited recovery — some even continuing to decline.
Read more at American Geophysical Union
Image: Deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Mexico were coated in a brown sludge after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Scientists monitored their health for 13 years and have found many affected corals are still struggling to recover. Credit: Fanny Girard/NOAA
