RAPID: Emergency Field Investigation of Oil-Beach Interaction along the Alabama and Florida Beaches Following the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

RAPID: Emergency Field Investigation of Oil-Beach Interaction along the Alabama and Florida Beaches Following the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Ping Wang, University of South Florida EAR-1041868 ABSTRACT The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred on April 20 2010 and continues to leak, putting this spill on track to become the worst oil spill in US history, imposing a highly anticipated anthropogenic disaster to a large area of marine and coastal environment. The oil is dispersing northward in the Gulf of Mexico, very likely heading toward the Florida and Alabama beaches, with almost a certain landfall along the some parts of the Gulf coast region. Both the small- and large-scale regional effects of the oil?s interaction with the dynamic sandy beach environment are unknown. The proposed study will investigate and quantify beach-oil interaction through intensive field data collection immediately before and after the ?landfall? of the oil. The proposed study will be accomplished through a series of intensive field data collection, focusing primarily on the sedimentological aspect. It is anticipated that regional distribution of the oil landfall will be mapped by various government environmental agencies. However, the processes associated with vertical mixing of the oil into the beach sediment may not be well documented. The Coastal Research Laboratory in the Department of Geology at the University of South Florida (USF-CRL) is well positioned to provide the crucial information on the oil-beach interaction, in addition to the effects at a regional scale.