You’ve probably heard the term “subsurface oil” during the past several months of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response.
National Incident Command – the organization responsible for emergency response during the spill – recently released a fact sheet on deep sea subsurface oil. You can read the full fact sheet by clicking on the link below.
Highlights from the report include:
There is not a “river of oil” under the surface; the oil that is still present is a “cloud” of microscopic particles that are constantly changing.
Subsurface oil refers primarily to oil that is suspended in very small droplets below the water’s surface.
These droplets are typically too small to be seen and they do not sink.
The oil droplets stay suspended in the water column or rise slowly.
Subsurface oil has an extremely low potential to land on the shore.
Detection of subsurface oil is a joint effort with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Association (EPA), academics, BP, and others.
Water samples are being taken throughout the Gulf and sent to EPA labs for analysis.
Click here to see the entire report from National Incident Command.
