This gallery contains data related to the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of
Mexico oil spill, and its possible effects on protected areas.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on
April 20, 2010 when an explosion occurred on the offshore drilling rig
leased by BP. The rate and amount of oil leaking from the
resulting sea floor oil gusher is still being determined, but may be in
excess of
95,000
barrels per day -- 2% of US daily crude oil production
. The Gulf region is a biologically, culturally, and
economically important area. This oil spill will have a
devastating effect on coastal communities, wildlife, and delicate
ecosystems in the Gulf and along the coast.
Click
here to read more in Dr. Dominique Bachelet's
(Senior
Scientist at CBI)
blog post
.
The Conservation Biology Institute has created data to describe
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to begin to discern the possible
damage it could cause to terrestrial, estuarine, and freshwater
ecosystems should it make landfall. Using
oil
spill trajectories
produced by the
Ocean Circulation Group
and the
Optical
Oceanography Laboratory
at the College of Marine Science, University of South
Florida, and protected areas data catalogued in
PAD-US
(CBI Edition)
, we provide a preliminary attempt to identify ecological
resources that may be affected by the spill.
By overlaying these projected trajectories on a standardized
grid, we can select areas that may contain oil from the spill, or are
likely to contain oil in the future.
We then
identify
protected areas
that are likely to be most directly affected by the spill
immediately, and in the near future.
CBI will continue to update these datasets with future spill
trajectory projections.
Each update will include geospatial data on the spill
trajectory, areas of possible landfall, and (as of 07/05/2010) an
update to the
Google
spreadsheet of the potentially affected protected areas
.
We want these freely available data will be useful to
anyone interested in learning more about the oil spill and its
ecological effects.
More information is available at the Data
Basin Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico page.
Last edited: 7/22/2010 with projections for 7/25/2010