Dropping Dispersants (IMAGE)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Dropping Dispersants

Caption

Responders conducted 412 flights to spray chemical dispersants onto oil floating atop the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon crisis in 2010. New studies led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution show that oil is rapidly photo-oxidized by sunlight. Dispersants are much less effective at breaking up photo-oxidized oil.So the window of opportunity to use dispersants effectively is shorter than previously thought, especially in sunny weather.

Credit

Stephen Lehmann, US Coast Guard

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