Deep Oil Spills : Facts, Fate, and Effects

The demand for oil and gas has brought exploration and production to unprecedented depths of the world’s oceans.  Currently, over 50% of the oil from the Gulf of Mexico now comes from waters in excess of 1,500 meters (one mile) deep, where no oil was produced just 20 years ago.  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill blowout did much to change the perception of oil spills as coming just from tanker accidents, train derailments, and pipeline ruptures.  In fact, beginning with the Ixtoc 1 spill off Campeche, Mexico in 1979-1980, there have been a series of large spill events originating at the sea bottom and creating a myriad of new environmental and well control challenges. This volume explores the physics, chemistry, sub-surface oil deposition and environmental impacts of deep oil spills.  Key lessons learned from the responses to previous deep spills, as well as unresolved scientific questions for additional research are highlighted, all of which are appropriate for governmental regulators, politicians, industry decision-makers, first responders, researchers and students wanting an incisive overview of issues surrounding deep-water oil and gas production.

Steven A. Murawski is a Professor and Downtown Partnership/Peter Betzer Endowed Chair of Biological Oceanography at the University of South Florida.  Murawski currently serves as director of the C-IMAGE consortium conducting interdisciplinary oil-spill related research.  Prior to his current position, he was Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor for the US National Marine Fisheries Service.  He is a fishery biologist with interests in population and ecosystem ecology and dynamics.  He has published nearly 200 journal articles, technical reports and book chapters.  Awards include the Department of Commerce Gold Medal.  His Ph.D. is in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Cameron H. Ainsworth is an Associate Professor of Fisheries Science at the University of South Florida.  He uses ‘end-to-end’ models and other means to study anthropogenic influences on marine ecosystems.  His recent work has considered fishing, climate change and oil spills as drivers of ecosystem change.  He keeps an applied focus, working with NOAA and state fisheries managers on common research themes and serving as a member of the Ecosystem Science and Statistical Committee of the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council.  He has published over 100 peer-reviewed and technical articles.  Awards include a Sloan Research Fellowship for early career scientists and an Outstanding Faculty Award.  His Ph.D. is in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Sherryl Gilbert is the deputy director of the C-IMAGE consortium operated at the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida.  Gilbert has served as the center’s operational core since 2011, coordinating research and management efforts.  Prior to 2011, Gilbert was the technical director of the Ocean Modelingand Prediction Laboratory and was heavily involved in ocean sensor development, testing, and its application to study coastal processes. She is a physical oceanographer with broader interests in Gulf conservation efforts.  Ms. Gilbert holds a M.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Florida.
David J. Hollander is a Professor of Chemical Oceanography and Sedimentary Geochemistry at the University of South Florida. Hollander currently serves as the Chief Science Officer developing and overseeing the wide scope of interdisciplinary scientific activities conducted by C-IMAGE. Since the Deepwater Horizon Blowout event in 2010, he has played a critical role in scientific discovery, public communications of findings, and influencing the research, response efforts and policies of federal agencies. He is an isotope and molecular organic geochemist focusing on climate, environment and ecosystem changes at both natural and anthropogenic time-scales.  He has over 100 peer-reviewed paper and received his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich).
Claire B. Paris-Limouzy is a Professor of Ocean Sciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Paris is a PI for the C-IMAGE consortium, leading oil-spill modeling research. She is a biological oceanographer with interests in larval ecology and biophysical interactions. She has over 170 publications, including the probabilistic open-source Connectivity Modeling System used worldwide to predict dispersion and population connectivity and in NOAA fisheries stock assessment. She is President-Elect of the Early Life History section of the American Fishery Society and the 2018 AGU Rachel Carson Lecturer.  Paris is interdisciplinary at heart with a Ph.D. is in Coastal Oceanography from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Michael Schlüter owns the Chair of ‘Fluid Mechanics for Multiphase Systems’ at the Hamburg University of Technology and is head of the Institute of Multiphase Flows. He also serves as coordinator of the DFG Priority Program “Reactive Bubble Columns“ and as President of the Working Party “Multiphase Fluid Flow“ in the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. His research interest is primarily in the field of multiscale transport phenomena in chemical and bioprocess engineering, reactor development, design and scale-up. He has published over 50 papers and completed work on more than 15 books.
Dana L. Wetzel is a Senior Scientist, Program Manager of the Environmental Laboratory for Forensics, and Eminent Scholar at Mote Marine Laboratory.  Her research focuses on sub-lethal effects of chemical contaminant exposure on essential biochemical processes in marine organisms from corals to polar bears. Wetzel has served on panels to develop and assess protocols for oil spill response research and for oil dispersant use in the Arctic.  Her Ph.D. is in Chemical Oceanography from the University of South Florida, where she was the recipient of both the Robert M. Garrels and Gulf Oceanographic Charitable Trust Fellowships.