Science in a Time of Crisis: Searching for the Plume

Part 4 of a 6-part series describing WHOI's efforts to understand the scope and impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Searching for the Plume describes a research cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor on which WHOI scientists found and mapped a plume of hydrocarbons beneath the surface of the Gulf using the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry fitted a compact mass spectrometer. The group also looked for signs that microbial action was depleting oxygen in the water, but were able to document that oxygen levels remained within normal ranges.