The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Fueled a Gulf Science Bonanza
Published:06 Jul.2020 Source:WIRED
A decade after the worst oil spill in US history, researchers have turned out a massive data set charting the health of the ecosystem.
AFTER THE DEEPWATER Horizon drilling rig exploded a decade ago this month, killing 11 workers and spewing a massive black curtain of crude oil across the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of first responders and cleanup workers arrived on the scene. So too did an army of scientists. Aboard seagoing research vessels and wading along beaches and marshes, they came to assess the catastrophe and track it over time. British Petroleum, owner of the rig, agreed to fund a scientific stimulus package of $500 million just a few weeks after the April 20, 2010, blowout.