Summary of Findings and Research Recommendations from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Charles Wilson,Jennifer Petitt,David Westerholm,Michael Carron,Michael Feldman,Kevin Shaw,Kenneth Halanych,Callan Yanoff,Paul Sandifer,Leigh Zimmermann,John Shepherd,Nilde Dannreuther,Jürgen Rullkötter

doi:10.5670/oceanog.2021.128

Abstract

Following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in 2010, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was established to improve society’s ability to understand, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of petroleum pollution and related stressors of the marine and coastal ecosystems. This article provides a high-level overview of the major outcomes of the scientific work undertaken by GoMRI. This initiative contributed to significant knowledge advances across the physical, chemical, geological, and biological oceanographic research fields, as well as in related technology, socioeconomics, human health, and oil spill response measures. For each of these fields, this paper outlines key advances and discoveries made by GoMRI scientists (along with a few surprises), synthesizing their efforts in order to highlight lessons learned, future research needs, remaining gaps, and suggestions for the next generation of scientists.

Highlights

The articles in this special issue of Oceanography provide an extensive overview of the Gulf of Mexico science community’s accomplishments
We provide a high-level overview of the major outcomes of the studies conducted by Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) researchers whose work advanced existing paradigms in oil spill science and extended aspects of findings from previous studies
As a result of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Natural Resource Damage Assessment and GoMRI research, improvements in sample collection, use of genomics, and extensive toxicity testing have all led to a better understanding of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem (Murawski et al, 2021, and Halanych et al, 2021, both in this issue)

Summary

Introduction

The articles in this special issue of Oceanography provide an extensive overview of the Gulf of Mexico science community’s accomplishments. Field measurements accompanying in situ burning of spilled oil are scarce but are urgently needed to document the chemical composition and environmental distributions of products of this mitigation process (including soluble organic compounds) and pathways of transport of oil and combustion product chemicals into the water column and eventual deposition into sediments, even in deeper waters.

Results

Conclusion