of the Gulf of Mexico loses a great amount of oxygen, making some areas inhospitable to marine life. These oxygen-depleted conditions stay until September, sometimes even October. This annual occurrence is referred to as the Gulf of Mexico hypoxia or “dead zone.” Hypoxic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico are defined when levels of dissolved oxygen drop bellows 2mg/L (Hypoxia In the Northern Gulf of Mexico 2014). While dead zones occur naturally throughout the world, the hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
One World Essay: Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico Scientific Reasoning: The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is a human problem, like most other disasters. What this means is that once the place thrived and was ecologically balanced, but we tipped the balance slightly and wrecked havoc upon the environment. It has been noted to occur since the 1950’s and is ongoing. The reason that this dead zone occurs is because of a phenomenon known as eutrophication. Eutrophication is when there is an excessive
When you think of the Gulf of Mexico the first thing you don’t think of is coral reefs. You don’t even think of it as place to go surfing. If you ask a surfer what a reef is, they would probably say something that gets in my way while surfing. Reefs being either large or small, have grown for over thousands of years. The build-up of limestone or calcite have given way to magnificent structures that many marine animals call home (Science). Reefs are communities in the ocean where more than hundreds
April 20, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico experienced a disaster unprecedented in scale and environmental impact. Fifty miles off the coast of Louisiana in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a BP drilling rig suffered an explosion that claimed eleven lives and caused the rig to sink over 5000 ft. to the sea bed floor. This was the beginning of the BP oil spill which spanned over eighty seven days, releasing an approximate 2.3 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the flow of
(Briggs, 2009). Areas in the United States included the Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico; off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and sometimes extending to the Texas shelf (EPA, 2003). The Gulf of Mexico is also ... ... middle of paper ... ...riggs, K., Watkins, J., Shivarudrappa, S., & Hartmann, V. (2009). Effects of Hypoxia on Sediment Properties in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. 9. Stennis Space Center, MS, USA. Joyce, S. (2000). The Dead Zones: Oxygen-Starved Coastal
On April 20, 2010, BP’S deep water horizon drill exploded in Gulf of Mexico and this oil spill killed 11 innocent workers and caused severe damage to the environment. “It was the worst environmental disaster in US history and BP lost his reputation worldwide”. The oil spill created negative attention from media and public. BP’s “Gulf of Mexico Restoration” website uses these three strategies to try to repair its reputation: pictures of its new employees to show its dedication to creating more jobs
The April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will forever change the way Americans view deepwater oil drilling. No one could have foreseen that BP’s well would spew into the Gulf waters for over 80 days before it was successfully capped. Over the years, many articles have been written about the disaster, and many different viewpoints given in the articles. This essay discusses the oil spill’s effect on Gulf coast animal and plant life, plus whether the government is implementing effective legislation
Due to the potential dangers of dead zones to the environment and economy in the Gulf of Mexico, the American government needs to make dramatic and controversial efforts to stop the growth of this dead zone. Hypoxic zones, more commonly known as ‘Dead Zones,’ can be found all over the world, with the second largest located in the Gulf of Mexico. They are lacking in life because of the absence of the atomic number 8, otherwise known as oxygen. According to the Environmental Encyclopedia, hypoxia
1 Case Study: The Gulf Coast and the BP Oil Spill About the Gulf Coast The Gulf of Mexico is bordered by five of the United States: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. It is also bordered by Mexico and is the location of Cuba. The gulf itself covers an expanse of 600,000 square miles and has a developed a circulation pattern for the waters (General Facts about the Gulf of Mexico, 2011). Water enters the Yucatan Strait, flows through the Loop Current, and exits through the Florida
crude oil and gas on the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico 42 miles off the Louisiana coast (Gulf Oil Spill). This oil spill is known as the largest spill in U.S. history. The pipe was located 5,000 feet underwater where there are temperatures just above freezing and extremely high pressures (Gulf Oil Spill). Oil spewed from this pipe non-stop for 87 days (Gulf Oil Spill). About twenty percent of it ended up on the ocean floor or on the surface (Gulf Oil Spill). Since it’s hydrophobic, the oil on
On December 23rd 2009 at 6:15 pm onboard the Sedco 711 semi-submersible rig operated by Shell E&P, a blowout occurred. This occurred during the upper completion clean up phase of the well. According to the UK parliament’s Memorandum and Transocean’s report, the blowout happened due to an underbalanced column of drilling fluids in the well. This is very similar to the Macondo Blowout, as it also involved an underbalanced column of mud. The only noticeable difference is the use of an unusual spacer
many environmental catastrophes that resulted in devastating destruction. The most recent one that took place five years ago, in the Gulf of Mexico, was the BP Oil Spill. This event caused eleven workers to be killed and over 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals to be discovered injured or dead within six months after the spill occurred. Damage to the Gulf Coast is still taking place to this day. The aftermath effects sadly include certain species to become sparse of even extinct. Habitat
Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive natural disaster in the history of the United States of America, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August 2005, leaving behind an estimated damage worth $125 billion US, and a total death toll of over 1800(Graumann et al., 2006). The essay will discuss why Hurricane Katrina had such a devastating effect on New Orleans, the worst affected area, and the post-disaster recovery process. Like in any other natural hazard, geographical factors had a strong influence
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, also known as the BP oil spill, occurring on April 20th, 2010. To clarify, the event is known as the largest marine oil spill in history, killing eleven people, and discharging nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Certainly, the crisis spawned a substantial amount of outrage, backlash, and controversy due to the calamitous effects of the incident. Through unambiguous efforts, BP (British Petroleum) attempted to calm the public’s reaction to the situation
in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Coast of Louisiana, on an oilrig. Sometime after the rig exploded, it collapsed. There was now a much bigger problem on hand. 5,000 feet below the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, oil began to gush into the open waters of the gulf. Over the span of 87 days, oil continued to spew hundreds of barrels of oil from the Macondo wellhead. Once the leak was finally one hundred percent ceiled on July 15, 2010, the wellhead had leaked more than 130 gallons of oil into the gulf; therefore
BP oil spill caused tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico (Schrope, 2010). The BP oil spill was one of the worst disasters that have taken place. It took BP three months to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf. The BP oil spill was a disaster that was being watched by many people in the world and everyone expected BP to provide detail information about the fix and a resolution to why the blowout happened. The community wanted to know what actions BP plan to
Deepwater Horizon is a 2016 movie about American disaster based on the oil spill and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. An oil drilling rig which was operated on behalf of BP's corporation by Transocean, a private contractor, is set to begin drilling off the Southern coast of Louisiana. In the beginning, the operation process goes easily, but then finally the cement job completely fails which triggering a massive blowout that overpowers and kills people. There is a chain of malfunction equipment coupled
Hurricane Katrina America saw the loss of a city of enormous cultural and economic value the morning Katrina hit. New Orleans was a cultural epicenter for our country, it was the birthplace of jazz music it’s nickname “The Big Easy”. All came crashing down in a blink of an eye turning what was once a city of laughter, music and known for their mardi gras parade turned into dark skies and disaster causing many residents to loose everything they ever worked for. Hurricane Katrina, stated one of the
Less than a year ago people were outraged about the huge event that was headlining in the news everywhere. This incident was called the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, and this spill kept many frightened and waiting for answers on the future. The BP oil spill significantly changed many lives, cost an abundance of money, and occurred because people were being careless on the job and not as aware as they should have been. April 20, 2010 was a day that many remember, but not for a respectable reason
From a personal perspective, two costs that BP might incur from the oil spill in the Gulf Coast region would be as follows: First, additional funding for research to universities for marine & wildlife in the region and the impact on the environment. The incident has had a major impact on the Gulf region and beyond. “According to the website dosomething.com “16,000 total miles of coastline have been affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida”. Since one