Scientists have suggested that a huge deadly oil spill that hit the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was about 30 percent larger than previously estimated.
In their study published by Science Advances journal earlier this week, the researchers referred to BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig spill, claiming that large portions of the Gulf of Mexico were exposed to “invisible and toxic oil that extended beyond the boundaries of the satellite footprint which does not necessarily capture the entire oil spill extent”. The BP has not yet commented on the study’s findings.
The spill reached the west Florida shelf, the Texas shores and the Florida Keys, according to the survey singling out the results which were obtained with the help of three-dimensional computer simulations, as well as testing for oil concentration ranges in marine organisms.
Claire Paris-Limouzy, one of the study’s authors and a professor of ocean sciences at the University of Miami, was quoted by the Verge website as saying that she is “definitely concerned” that “eventually, there will be another oil spill like that”.
She added that “the less uncertainty you have about where the oil will go, the better the response will be”, voicing hope that her team’s technique will change the way authorities respond to possible new spills.
“Satellite imagery it's great but it's not enough to fully understand oil spills”, she told the CNN.
During a Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in 2010, at least 10 workers were killed and 206 million gallons of oil from BP’s Macondo well were spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, triggering one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.