Oil Spewing From Macondo Well

Dispersant in the Deep: Dispersants, soap-like chemicals that cause oil to mix with water more easily, have been used with success to remove oil after a spill on the ocean's surface. But Deepwater Horizon wasn't a surface spill; instead, oil spewed into th
(U.S. Geological Survey)

Dispersants, soap-like chemicals that cause oil to mix with water more easily, have been used with success to clean up oil spilled on the ocean's surface. But Deepwater Horizon wasn't a surface spill; instead, oil spewed into the deep sea. A joint modeling effort from two GoMRI projects (DEEP-C and C-IMAGE) is investigating whether dispersants actually help clean up oil in this deep-sea setting.

Tags: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative