Monthly Archives: January 2018

Classroom MaterialsFact SheetsSea Grant Sea Grant Releases Bulletin on Corals and Oil Spills 6264

The Sea Grant Oil Spill Outreach Team released a publication that explains which corals were affected by the Deepwater Horizon incident and how scientists are monitoring those corals.  The bulletin also describes the important roles that corals play in maintaining a healthy ocean and how corals worldwide struggle in the face of constant, multiple threats. Read More

Audio-VideoECOGIGPodcasts ECOGIG PI Featured on GulfCast Podcast 4916

Dr. Mandy Joye recently appeared on the show to discuss her research on the ocean’s microbial “worker bees,” which carry out critical processes that keep the ocean healthy, and their reaction to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Classroom MaterialsDEEPENDLesson Plans Lesson Plan: Nature of Science Deep-sea STEM Module (Grades 6-12) 4892

The new module Nature of Science targets grades 6-12 and utilizes consortium research data to clearly describe the scientific method, including what is science, how is science conducted, and how is science communicated. The full 45-page module is available for download from the DEEPEND website and here on the GoMRI Education site.  

Audio-VideoCARTHEShort Clips (<15 Minutes) Video: “Motion of the Ocean” Shows Technology Used to Study Currents 5081

Scientists completed four field experiments in the Gulf of Mexico, linking the dynamics of deep ocean, shelf, and coastal surface currents (where materials such as oil or debris naturally accumulate) in a way that has never been done before. So how did they do that? The team representing 30 universities used 2,000 custom-made, biodegradable, GPS-equipped Read More

Classroom MaterialsFact SheetsSea Grant Is It Safe? Examining Health Risks from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Fact Sheet on health risks to DwH

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill left many tourists and residents questioning if oil and the dispersants used to keep oil from reaching the shore could make them sick. Scientists studied the health risks of lingering chemicals from the spill. This fact sheet covers common questions, such as: Is Gulf seafood safe to eat? Are Read More

GoMRI StudentsLADC-GEMM Grad Student Leftwich Unites Dolphin Research and Secondary Education 6249a

Researchers believe that large numbers of deep-diving marine mammals were living near the Deepwater Horizon site during the 2010 spill and may have experienced changes in their population distribution and abundance. Kendal Leftwich conducts acoustic research assessing how northern Gulf of Mexico dolphin populations changed and recovered over time to help researchers better understand the Read More

GoMRI ScienceSmithsonian Ocean Portal Smithsonian Highlights Research about Acoustic Monitoring of Beaked Whales 6245

The Smithsonian recently published an article about how researchers are using sound or echolocation to learn more about the elusive beaked whale. Some of these whales live and forage in the vicinity where the Deepwater Horizon incident happened, and researchers are monitoring their numbers and location to learn how the oil spill may have affected Read More

Links GoMRI Activities Report Instructional Video Update – 2018 Instructional_video_150x192

This instructional video is designed to update the previous activities report section of the GoMRI Administrative Webinar created in January 2016.  Since that time, several sections of the activities report have been modified and added to expand the collection of Consortia and Individual Project information. For your convenience, we have displayed the full instructional video below Read More

GoMRI Programs ACER Consortium: Education and Outreach Alabama Center for Ecological Resilience

The Alabama Center for Ecological Resilience (ACER) Consortium came together to investigate how biodiversity influences an ecosystem’s ability to resist and recover from disturbance, specifically the ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Over the next 3 years, ACER scientists will conduct field and large scale manipulative lab Read More

GoMRI Programs ADDOMEx Consortium: Education and Outreach ADDOMEx

The Aggregation and Degradation of Dispersants and Oil by Microbial Exopolymers (ADDOMEx) consortium is funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to investigate the impacts of spilled oil and dispersants on the formation of an extracellular matrix called EPS (exopolymeric substances) formed by marine microbes that is thought to be instrumental in determining the fate of Read More

GoMRI Programs C-IMAGE Consortium: Education and Outreach C-IMAGE-Logo

The Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems (C-IMAGE) is a research consortium of 19 U.S. and international partners focused on effects of oil spills on marine environments. The C-IMAGE consortium is currently in their second installment of funding from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) in response to the Deepwater Horizon Read More

GoMRI Programs C-MEDS Consortium: Education and Outreach reallogo

The Consortium for the Molecular Engineering of Dispersant Systems (C-MEDS) is a research collaboratory involving 43 investigators from 22 universities in the US. The Consortium is based on the premise that dispersants are an essential aspect in the effective management and mitigation of large oil releases from deep ocean environments. A key aspect of the Read More

GoMRI Programs CARMMHA Consortium: Education and Outreach CARMMHA Logo

The scientific knowledge gained through the Consortium for Advanced Research on Marine Mammal Health Assessment (CARMMHA) research objectives will be informative to ongoing restoration efforts, resource management, and mitigation efforts aimed at reducing the effects of stressors on marine mammal populations and improving the long-term environmental health of the Gulf of Mexico. Whether you are Read More

GoMRI Programs CARTHE Consortium: Education and Outreach carthe_logo3

The Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) studies ocean currents in the Gulf of Mexico in hopes that they will be able to predict where oil or other toxins may go in the event of a future spill. CARTHE’s outreach program disperses our scientific results to a wide audience and interactively Read More

GoMRI Programs CONCORDE Consortium: Education and Outreach CONCORDE

Coastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE) scientists explore water movements and organism distributions in the northern Gulf of Mexico to see how oil and dispersants from future oil spills might impact the biota. An important part of the scientific process—one as carefully planned as every experiment in a well-thought-out program—is how to share findings with the community who Read More

GoMRI Programs CRGC Consortium: Education and Outreach CRGC

The Consortium for Resilient Gulf Communities (CRGC) aims to reach and bridge community organizations and leaders, policy makers, and scholars by seeking to improve the understanding of and responses to hydrocarbon release disasters. By linking academic and practice institutions in our management model and integrating basic science and applied research, we will create products that are collectively Read More

GoMRI Programs CSOMIO Consortium: Education and Outreach CSMIO logo

The nature of the CSOMIO project presents many opportunities for engagement with teachers, graduate and undergraduate students, K12 students, policy makers, and the general public. The primary goals of the CSOMIO Education & Outreach efforts are to provide resources and research experiences for high school students, K-12 teachers, undergraduates, and graduate students; and to communicate Read More

GoMRI Programs CWC Consortium: Education and Outreach cwc_sm

The Coastal Waters Consortium (CWC) came together in early 2012 to assess the chemical evolution, biological degradation, and environmental stresses of petroleum and dispersant within Gulf of Mexico coastal and shelf ecosystems. CWC research and education and outreach programs are funded for 3 years by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.  The Lead Administrative unit Read More

GoMRI Programs Deep-C Consortium: Education and Outreach Deep-C_logo

The nature of the Deepsea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Deep-C) Consortium — investigating the issues involved in understanding and protecting ecological communities in the Gulf of Mexico, and the opportunity to create models that make the interaction of the physical, chemical, and biological realms real — provide rich opportunities for Read More

GoMRI Programs DEEPEND Consortium: Education and Outreach DEEPEND

Deep-Pelagic Nekton Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico (DEEPEND) is excited to share their science, teaching content, and exciting outreach programs with everyone over the next 3 years. Part of DEEPEND’s goal for a successful program is to have a robust education/outreach platform for anyone interested in learning more about the projects, the people and the Read More

GoMRI Programs DROPPS Consortium: Education and Outreach DROPPS Logo

The Dispersion Research on Oil: Physics and Plankton Studies (DROPPS) consortium brings together complementing experts from seven institutions in order to investigate and model several key processes involved with the dispersion of oil spills and interactions of oil with marine organisms. The experimental and numerical studies will be performed at varying scales and levels of complexity, Read More

GoMRI Programs ECOGIG Consortium: Education and Outreach ECOGIG LOGO

The Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG) consortium is committed to communicating its experience, observations, research, and data with other researchers, scholars, students, and the public through educational and outreach endeavors. The principal investigators engage students—from undergraduate to postdoc levels—in their research, assisting them in furthering their knowledge of the Read More

GoMRI Programs GISR Consortium: Education and Outreach Gulf Integrated Spill Response Consortium

The vision of the Gulf Integrated Spill Response Consortium (GISR) is to understand and predict the fundamental behavior of petroleum fluids in the ocean environment. This capability is critical to inform decisions during response to oil spills and for development of mitigation plans, ultimately yielding significant environmental and financial savings. The Mission of this proposal is Read More

GoMRI Programs LADC-GEMM Consortium: Education and Outreach LADC-GEMM

The Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center – Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) consortium scientists have been collaborating through the LADC since 2001. The team will bring to GoMRI the experience of 14 years of continuous acoustic research in the northern GoM. The LADC-GEMM consortium members include the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of New Read More

GoMRI Programs RECOVER Consortium: Education and Outreach RECOVER

The Relationships of Effects of Cardiac Outcomes in fish for Validation of Ecological Risk (RECOVER) Consortium consists of seven Co-PIs from four institutions: University of Miami, FL, University of Texas at Austin, Port Aransas, University of North Texas, and University of California, Riverside. It is the mission of RECOVER to better understand the toxic effect of Read More