News Release

New research reveals deep-ocean impact of the Deepwater Horizon explosion

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Penn State

New Research Reveals Deep-Ocean Impact of the <i>Deepwater Horizon</i> Explosion (1 of 3)

image: The Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin is shown working at the coral site found to be impacted by the oil spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Compelling evidence of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea corals will be published online in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week beginning March 26, 2012. The researchers, led by Penn State University Biologist Charles Fisher, used a wide range of underwater vehicles, including the research submarine Alvin, as well as comprehensive chemical-analysis techniques to determine precisely the source of the petroleum hydrocarbons they found on the corals. view more 

Credit: Image courtesy of Chuck Fisher of Penn State University and Timothy Shank of WHOI; deep-sea time-lapse camera system provided by WHOI-MISO.

Compelling evidence of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea corals will be published online in the Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week beginning 26 March 2012. The diverse team of researchers, led by Penn State University Professor of Biology Charles Fisher, used a wide range of underwater vehicles, including the research submarine Alvin, to investigate the corals. They also used comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography to determine precisely the source of the petroleum hydrocarbons they found.

Other researchers on the team include the paper's lead author, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Helen White of Haverford College, Erik Cordes of Temple University, and Timothy Shank and Christopher German of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), which operates the Navy-owned submersible Alvin. Fisher, Cordes, Shank and German are co-authors of the study, along with 10 other scientists from WHOI, Penn State, Temple and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The study's findings are significant for a number of reasons, White says. "These biological communities in the deep Gulf of Mexico are separated from human activity at the surface by 4,000 feet of water. We would not expect deep-water corals to be impacted by a typical oil spill, but the sheer magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its release at depth make it very different from a tanker running aground and spilling its contents. Because of the unprecedented nature of the spill, we have learned that its impacts are more far reaching than those arising from smaller spills that occur on the surface."

The study grew out of an initial research cruise to the Gulf, led by Fisher in late October 2010 -- approximately six months after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This expedition was part of an ongoing study funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Exploration and Research program. Using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason II, the team examined nine sites at distances greater than 20 km from the Macondo Well and found deep-water coral communities unharmed. However, when the ROV explored another area 11 km to the SW of the spill site, the team was surprised to discover numerous coral communities covered in a brown flocculent material and showing signs of tissue damage.

"We discovered the site during the last dive of the three-week cruise," said Fisher, a biologist and the chief scientist of this mission. "As soon as the ROV got close enough to the community for the corals to come into clear view, it was clear to me that something was wrong at this site. I think it was too much white and brown, and not enough color on the corals and brittle stars. Once we were close enough to zoom in on a few colonies, there was no doubt that this was something I had not seen anywhere else in the Gulf: an abundance of stressed corals, showing clear signs of a recent impact. This is exactly what we had been on the lookout for during all dives, but hoping not to see anywhere."

These coral communities were at a depth of 4300 feet deep in close proximity to the Macondo well, which had been capped three months previously after spilling an estimated 160-million gallons of oil into the Gulf. Because the timing and unprecedented nature of this observation suggested that the damage observed visually resulted from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the scientists rapidly organized a second research cruise, which began on 8 December 2010, barely a month after their return to land following their initial discovery.

Joining this second research cruise, again headed by Fisher, was Helen White, whose expertise as a geochemist was key to the interdisciplinary effort. This rare opportunity for the researchers to return to a deep-water site so quickly for the subsequent study was made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation's RAPID Collaborative Research grant program, which aids scientists seeking to respond quickly to urgent issues such as natural disasters or crises resulting from human activity.

To examine the deep water, the team used the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry to map and photograph the ocean floor, and the deep-submergence, 3-passenger, robotic-armed vehicle Alvin to get a better look at the distressed corals. During six dives in Alvin, the team collected sediments and samples of the corals and filtered the brown material off of the corals for analysis.

To identify the oil found in the coral communities, White worked with Christopher Reddy and Robert Nelson at WHOI using an advanced technique called comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, which was pioneered at WHOI by Reddy and Nelson for use in oil spill research. The method, which separates oil compounds by molecular weight, allows scientists to essentially "fingerprint" oil and determine its source.

This exacting petroleum analysis, coupled with the analysis of 69 images from 43 individual corals at the site -- performed by Pen-Yuan Hsing, a graduate student of Fisher's at Penn State -- yielded strong evidence that the coral communities were impacted by oil from the Macondo well spill.

Fisher said these findings confirm a serious impact from the spill on the animal communities in the deep sea more than 7 miles from the Macondo well. He added, "Our ongoing work in the Gulf will allow us to better understand the long-term effects of the spill on the deep sea, and to constrain the footprint of the impact zone for deep-water corals around the Macondo well."

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CONTACTS

Charles Fisher:
cfisher@psu.edu,
814-865-3365

Barbara Kennedy (PIO):
814-863-4682,
science@psu.edu

IMAGES

A high-resolution image associated with this research is online at http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2012-news/Fisher3-2012, which is where the text of this press release will be posted after the news embargo lifts. For your convenience in preparing your story, the captions and credits for these images follow:

First Photo:

The Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin is shown working at the coral site found to be impacted by the oil spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Credit: Image courtesy of Chuck Fisher of Penn State University and Timothy Shank of WHOI; deep-sea time-lapse camera system provided by WHOI-MISO.

Second Photo:

A portion of one of the impacted corals and two attached brittle starfish. Living tissue is orange and most of the skeleton is bare or covered by brown flocculent material. The brittle starfish are normal symbiotic partners of this type of coral. The brittle star on the left shows a more normal coloration for this species and the individual on the right is bleached white and much more tightly wrapped around the branch than normal. Both starfish were uncharacteristically immobile.

Credit: Lophelia II 2010; NOAA OER and BOEMRE.

Third Photo:

One of the impacted corals with attached brittle starfish. Although the orange tips on some branches of the coral is the color of living tissue, it is unlikely that any living tissue remains on this animal.

Credit: Lophelia II 2010, NOAA OER and BOEMRE


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