NGI Research on Deepwater Horizon - One Year In

April 20, 2011

As we mark the anniversary of the terrible events one year ago that led to the loss of 11 lives and injuries to numerous others, the Northern Gulf Institute is beginning to report results from the first year of the Gulf Research Initiative projects. NGI currently coordinates several dozen projects which focus on monitoring, modeling, and managing the impacts of Deepwater Horizon incident. NGI researchers are collecting data on flora and fauna, microbes, and water quality to determine to what extent coastal ecosystems have been disrupted by the Macondo MC 252 oil.

The field data help to determine what the environmental fate of oil will be and how this will affect northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystems. We will continue to pursue our mission in context of the four NGI research themes: ecosystem-based management, coastal hazards and resiliency, geospatial data/information and visualization in environmental science, and climate change and climate variability effects on regional ecosystems. By participating in this important evaluation of the impacts to the northern Gulf from the nation’s largest man-made disaster, NGI will help conserve and build a more resilient Gulf Coast region.

Please refer to the Research tab at the Northern Gulf Institute web site for more details of the NGI projects.