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The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on 24 May 2010. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m 3) of crude oil making it the largest marine oil spill in history.
Oil spills penetrate into the structure of the plumage of birds and the fur of mammals, reducing its insulating ability, and making them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water. Cleanup and recovery from an oil spill is difficult and depends upon many factors, including the type of oil spilled, the ...
A 2014 study of the effects of the oil spill on bluefin tuna funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Stanford University, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium and published in the journal Science, found that the toxins from oil spills can cause irregular heartbeats leading to cardiac arrest. Calling the vicinity of the spill ...
In June 2010, at the request of the US Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. National Academies Institute of Medicine held a workshop to discuss known health effects of previous oil spills and how they might apply to the Gulf spill and to coordinate epidemiological monitoring and ongoing medical research. [12]
When spills occur close to and within the drainage basin, the hydrologic force of both the river and tides force spilled petroleum to move up into areas of vegetation. Mangrove forests are included in a highly complex trophic system. If oil directly affects any organism within an ecosystem, it can indirectly affect a host of other organisms.
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may also occur on land.
The Deepwater Horizon spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill in total volume released (Ixtoc discharged 140 million US gallons (530,000 m 3) to 148 million US gallons (560,000 m 3); as of mid-July 2010, Deepwater ...
Surf scoter covered in oil as a result of the 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill. Exposure to oil (petroleum) can result in both external and internal damage to animals. It has the greatest impact on bird species, aquatic mammals, and other aquatic organisms. Affected wildlife can usually be identified via visual inspection, and can be treated if ...