A Year After Spill, Researchers Put Gulf Ecosystem Under Microscope

"Last spring, as BP's unchecked gusher of oil began to spread across the Gulf of Mexico, University of Miami oceanographer Jerald Ault tried to answer the question that was on everyone's lips: What will this do to the Gulf?

'The thing is, we don't know what the long-term impacts will be, because something like this has never happened here,' he said. 'It's like we've been put in this movie that no one has written the ending to yet. And it won't be written for years.'

Now, a year after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, thousands of researchers are working on that ending. They are busily gathering data, searching for answers in what experts believe is the most massive and expensive scientific assessment ever undertaken in the history of pollution events."

Bob Marshall reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune April 20, 2011.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/04/thousands_of_r...

SEE ALSO:

New Orleans Times-Picayune Gulf Spill Roundup Page

"Beyond the Oil Spill, the Tragedy of an Ailing Gulf" (New York Times)

"Oil Still Oozing Along Coastline Amid Dying Marsh Grasses" (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

"Assessment of Gulf Spill's Damage Submerged in Murky Legal Waters" (Greenwire)

"Gulf Coast Marks Oil Spill Anniversary With Prayers And Appeals" (Los Angeles Times)

"After Oil Spill, Shrimpers Hope For Blessed Season" (NPR)

"In Cleaning Oiled Marshlands, A Sea Of Unknowns" (NPR)

"'Quagmire Of Bureaucracy' Stifles Gulf Spill Research" (NPR)

"Biloxi Local Government Defending Shopping With BP Oil Spill Grants" (Biloxi Sun Herald)

"Study: Gulf Spill's Social Costs May Linger for Years" (McClatchy)

"Obama Marks Anniversary of BP Disaster" (New York Times)

"The Gulf Disaster One Year Later" (Mother Jones)

"Drilling Support Rises on Spill Anniversary" (Capitol News Service)

"Gov. Scott Defends Plan Not To Sue BP for Spill" (Pensacola News Journal)