Gulf Scene Investigation: Oil Analysis

One year after the Deepwater BP oil spill, state and federal agency partners have collected almost 30,000 samples to determine impacts to the Gulf's natural resources. It's an unprecedented number of samples compared to any other U.S. oil spill.

Scientists have been collecting thousands of plant, animal, soil, and water samples to determine how the oil has impacted the Gulf's natural resources. After collection in the field, the samples get shipped to labs around the country for analysis. The samples follow strict procedures for collection, extraction, analysis, and review. This ensures that the results are accurate, and that we have a complete understanding of the impacts of the spill.
Scientists are working hard to analyze many types of samples for a variety of reasons--seafood safety, for example. In our latest video, we go inside the lab to get a better understanding of how samples are analyzed, what scientists are looking for, and what happens to the data. The samples being analyzed in this video will help inform the Natural Resource Damage Assessment--the process that determines how an oil spill affects the environment and ensures the responsible parties pay for restoration.

For more information, visit http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Gulf
• oil
• spill
• bp
• deepwater
• NRDA
• habitat
• restoration
• fisheries

[leeoberg]

I am grateful for this posting showing scientific due-diligence. I hope there will continue to be total disclosure of all scientific data. Where can we find the data available so far?