Monthly Archives: August 2017

C-IMAGEGoMRI StudentsPeople Grad Student Malone Uses Engineering Skills to Put Pressure on Oil Karen operates a high-pressure test center. (Provided by Hamburg University of Technology)

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident highlighted new challenges and science gaps in our understanding of and ability to respond to deep-water oil releases.  Of particular importance is how highly pressurized oil and gas behaves in a deep-sea environment.  Karen Malone uses her engineering background to build high-pressure tanks that replicate deep-sea conditions in a laboratory Read More

CWCGoMRI ScientistsPeople Get to Know CWC Researcher Giulio Mariotti 4573

Mariotti is a geobiologist developing a model to predict the rate at which marshes retreat due to waves and pond formation. His research with the Coastal Waters Consortium (CWC) will help predict future marsh loss and identify strategies to reduce it. Learn more about his background and research here!

Audio-VideoCARTHEShort Clips (<15 Minutes) Video: The Motion of the Ocean 4565

This video highlights the tools and techniques that modern researchers use to study ocean currents and develop more accurate ocean circulation models. Watch the video here.

ACERClassroom MaterialsFact Sheets Fact Sheet: ACER Tool Talk Series Features Stable Isotope Analysis 4561

Scientists can use stable isotope analysis to determine stable isotope ratios in an organism’s tissues to reconstruct food webs in oiled and non-oiled coastal environments. Specifically, they collect blood and muscle tissue samples from mid-level and higher order consumers, like sharks, to find out if there was any effect of the oil on the consumer Read More

CWCGoMRI StudentsPeople Grad Student Johnson Uses Amino Acids to Demystify Salt Marsh Food Webs Jessica presents her research at the 2016 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science conference in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Michael Polito)

Salt marshes support commercially and culturally important species and are often subject to natural and human-caused stressors. Gaps in our knowledge of salt marsh food webs made management and restoration decisions difficult after the Deepwater Horizon spill. Jessica Johnson helps fill this gap using novel chemical analysis techniques to describe the diets of salt marsh organisms and trace how Read More

CARTHEGoMRI ScienceResearch Stories Science at Sea: SPLASH Experiment Improves Predictions for Oil Moving toward Shore

Response decisions during Deepwater Horizon relied on forecasts of where the oil was going and when it would get there.  Researchers with the CARTHE consortium have been working to improve the information that goes into making ocean transport forecasts. The group recently completed the last of four field experiments that link the dynamics of deep ocean, shelf, Read More

Classroom MaterialsCRGCFact Sheets Fact Sheet: CRGC Two-Pager Details Transdisciplinary Student Outreach 4557

Experts at the Consortium for Resilient Gulf Communities (CRGC) come from from diverse fields. Working directly with experts outside their own fields of study enhances students’ insights about disaster, recovery, and resilience, while improving their problem solving skills and passion for their work. The two-page pamphlet describes the consortium’s efforts to provide graduate and undergraduate Read More

Classroom MaterialsFact Sheets Fact Sheet: GoMRI Science Featured by Science Journal for Kids 4553

Recent research into Deepwater Horizon’s impacts on salt marsh fiddler crabs has been adapted for the journal’s Environmental Science Journal for Teens publication. The research team included researchers from two Louisiana State University-led projects (1, 2) and the Florida Institute of Oceanography. Read the article. Additional materials can be accessed here..