Sunlight Dissolved Up to 17% of Oil During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Incident: New Study

A new study revealed that sunlight helped in dissolving the oil spills in the ocean from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, that costed billions of dollars and casualties.

The incident will be known in history as the Deep Horizon oil spill or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The cleanup operations that led to the containment of the oil spill were spearheaded by the U.S. Coast Guard.

However, the study suggested that sunlight also contributed to the dissolvement of the oil.

Certain characteristics of the sunlight's wavelengths proved to be important factors in its ability to dissolve the oils and their chemicals.

The groundbreaking discovery showed that sunlight plays a far much important role when it comes to cleaning oil spills in the oceans than we previously thought.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Incident

The oil spill incident occurred at the Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010.

At least 11 workers have died and four million oil barrels were wasted before it was finally contained on July 25, 2010.

The incident was specifically located in the Macondo Prospect area-located approximately 66 kilometers (41 miles) off the coast of Louisiana.

The Deepwater Horizon was owned and operated by the BP Exploration & Production oil and gas company.

The incident has been considered the largest oil spill in the history of marine oil drilling operations, as per the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Following the incident, the US government filed a complaint against the oil and gas company and other defendants responsible.

The cleanup operations of the oil spill were led by an inter-government group that was spearheaded by the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA.

The incident cost damages worth billions of dollars.

The U.S. Coast Guard made patrols to collect spilled oils off the coast of Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.

Also read: Years Later, Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Caused Abnormalities in Oysters

Did Sunlight Help in the Cleanup Operations?

The removal of the spilled oils from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was mostly attributed to the joint efforts of the inter-governmental group.

However, a new study published in the journal Science Advances on Feb. 16 claimed that sunlight also contributed to the cleaning.

Researchers found the wavelengths of the sunlight during the incident served as significant factors in dissolving the surface oils.

By using computer lab simulations, the researchers yielded results that sunlight dissolved 3% to 17% of surface oil from the Deepwater Horizon.

They termed the dissolving in the so-called process of photo-dissolution and compared it similar to the climate evaporation process of water into the atmosphere.

The researchers find the longer wavelengths of the sunlight dissolved less oil. This is possible due to their scatteredness when passing through water.

Meanwhile, the shorter wavelengths dissolved more oil.

Thus, the scientists concluded that sunlight is capable of transforming insoluble components of crude oil at sea into water-soluble products, as cited by Science News.

The new discovery may serve as an initial basis on the role of sunlight when it comes to dissolving oil spills in the future.

However, further research is still required if the same photo-dissolution also occur in a different climate, location, and chemical composition of oil.