2) What was the damage to the environment? The cumulative extent of the surface oil slick during the course of the spill totaled 43,300 square miles (approximately equal to the size of Virginia). It oiled 1,300 miles of shoreline across five states (for reference, this exceeds the distance equivalent of driving from New Orleans to New York City). Oil rose from the wellhead on the seafloor through more than 5,000 vertical feet of water column. The 87-day Deepwater Horizon oil spill released 3.19 million barrels (134 million gallons) of oil into the ocean. This moment offers NOAA and our partners an opportunity to reflect on the status of the restoration, the advancements made in response, assessment, and restoration science, and the continued stresses the ecosystem faces with climate change and coastal development.īelow are 10 of the top questions NOAA scientists receive about the oil spill and the historic restoration effort of the Gulf of Mexico. We assessed injuries to natural resources and worked with partners to mount a historic restoration of the Gulf. marine oil spill ever.įrom the earliest moments of the spill, and through today, NOAA played a lead scientific role in responding to the spill. The 2010 oil rig explosion killed 11 people, injured 17, and released 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, the United States will commemorate ten years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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