Gulf Oil Spill | Smithsonian Ocean

Top down view of oil slick on the ocean's surface.

An oil drilling platform in oil-free water two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Oil Spill Overview

Are you a student researching the gulf oil spill or someone looking to learn more about oil spills? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

A thin layer of oil on the water's surface, reflecting rainbow colors

Timeline

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Milestones

Illustration of an offshore oil rig.

Timeline

What Are Fossil Fuels?

Two silver fish with big eyes facing one another

Article

Oil's Legacy in the Open Sea

a red snapper's ear stone in the palm of someone's hand

Article

The Bone that Logs a Lifetime

A large, black instrument is hauled onto a ship's deck by researchers wearing hard hats and life vests.

Article

What the Big Picture Can Teach Us About Tiny Ocean Creatures

Gulf Oil Spill Articles

A screenshot of a GIF showing Bart Simpson exclaiming "I have the answer!"

Article

Do You Have The Answer? Sharing Big Data in the Gulf of Mexico

Jellyfish produce mucus, especially when stressed, which can interact with oil and break it down. This moon jellyfish is sloughing off mucus that has mixed with droplets of oil.

Article

How Jellyfish Break Down Oil After a Spill

A wildlife biologist surveys oiled algae

Article

Five Things The Gulf Oil Spill Has Taught Us About the Ocean

a heart in a petri dish

Video

Dispatches from the Gulf: Centers of Innovation

Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative researchers collect samples from a Pensacola Beach with oil layers in the sand. They use genomics to track how the communities of microbes change as they digest different components of oil after a spill.

Article

Three Ways You Can Use Genomics to Study Oil Spill Impacts

Positioned in front of a natural oil seep, this video camera is capturing images of the black oil bubbling up from beneath the sea floor. A light mounted to the frame helps see what is happening in the dark on the sea floor.

Article

How Oil Feeds the Deep Sea

Illustration from video showing Zack and Molly the octopod at a diner.

Video

The Adventures of Zack and Molly: Part 1

A beaked whale at the ocean's surface

Article

Seeing with Sound: Acoustic monitoring of beaked whales

Alexis Temkin stands in marsh grass holding a reptile.

Article

Five Questions With Alexis Temkin, Searching For Links Between Deepwater Horizon & Human Health

A close-up image of deep-sea fish Argyropelecus aculeatus

Article

15 Creatures in the Gulf of Mexico that are Stranger Than Fiction

Sean Powers in a marsh

Video

Dispatches from the gulf: Mardi Gras, Jazz & Oysters 2

Illustration of an offshore oil rig.

Timeline

What Are Fossil Fuels?