Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Whale sharks unable to avoid oil spill

Whale sharks unable to avoid oil spill

In this 10-min video, Dr Irv Mendelssohn, Louisiana State University School of the Coast and Environment, describes oil impacts on salt marshes.  He describes factors that determine whether the marsh will die and factors to consider when deciding what action, if any, should be taken to decontaminate marshes.  This is a must see for anyone who would like to know how to respond when asked what the oil spill will do to salt  marshes.

Oil Spill Impacts on Wetlands of the Mississippi River Delta

The Deep Horizon Oil Spill Information pages have been updated on www.gulfallianceeducation.org. The Online Digital Library is a portal that puts Gulf of Mexico science knowledge at your fingertips.

Children have questions too. WSRE, PBS on the Gulf Coast, has created a web page of resources to provide parents and teachers with information they can use to help children understand the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Crisis. Visit the Teachers, Parents and Kids Section on wsre.org/OilSpill for special information including terminology that kids are hearing from their parents, teachers, and news sources; and links and information to help kids understand the science and environmental concerns behind an oil spill.

Oil Spill Response Resources

Gaillard Island is a dredge disposal island located in Mobile Bay. The island is an important site for colonial nesting seabirds and shore birds in coastal Alabama and has been the only nesting site for brown pelican in Alabama – first discovered in 1983. (Source: Wikipedia)

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Here are some recent photos taken from an ultralight airplane flight over the island (hold mouse over image for a description):

These birds were spotted on the island:

• Brown Pelicans
• Royal Terns
• Mallard Ducks
• Laughing Gulls
• Black-necked stilts
• White Ibis
• Cattle Egrets

What do you think will happen to the island and the wildlife on it if the oil spill reaches into the Bay?

As you will learn from this Discovery Story, the answer is not simple. It isn’t easy to determine whether a particular area of shoreline has recovered from oiling during a spill, or how to expect it to look when it has.

Like many of the resources online this lesson plan and activity focus on the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.  These resources are still very relelvant to our situation in the Gulf and can be easily adapted.

How does an ecosystem recover from an oil spill?

• An Oil Spill Primer for Students
• How Toxic is Oil?
• Working with Real Data
• Thinking Like a Scientist
• Web Resources
• Glossary

The Bridge is a growing collection of the best marine education resources available on-line. It provides educators with a convenient source of accurate and useful information on global, national, and regional marine science topics, and gives researchers a contact point for educational outreach. Resources are organized as indicated on the sidebar on the left side of the screen.

Bridge

Check out their Data Analysis Teaching Activities (DATA) Series.

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration has established a web page where they plan to post daily updates:

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration

Do you want to try cleaning up an oil spill yourself? This experiment will help you understand why it is such a difficult task. All of the tools you will need are environmentally friendly and easy to find.

Experiment to Clean Up an Oil Spill

With the current oil spill crisis, organizations along the Gulf of Mexico have been inundated with calls from volunteers. At the moment, work directly related to the Gulf oil spill has not been initiated for most volunteers. But there IS something you can do.

1. Do what we should all be doing – pick up trash and better yet, don’t let it get to the environment in the first place. Prevent receipts from blowing out your car window. Don’t assume someone will pick up your left over newspaper on the park bench. Secure garbage in the back of open vehicles. You all know the drill.
2. Keep your own back yard as healthy as you can. Helping yourself can help the Gulf too. With 32 states and Canadian provinces in the watershed to the Gulf of Mexico, a drop of water from your back yard could reach the Gulf. The last thing the Gulf needs is more stuff flowing into it.
3. Appreciate wildlife and nature where you live. You could make a list of all the plants and animals you see in your backyard, neighborhood or school.