The Gulf of Mexico saw one of its most severe oil leaks this past year. Oil poured from breaks in pipelines on the sea floor over the course of three months. While estimates came out from BP and the Federal Government, the media and independent sources doubted the reported numbers.

“In the very early days of the spill, say, about the first week or so, the official estimates for the flow rates were a thousand barrels a day. A thousand barrels is a lot of oil, but perhaps the urgency or the importance of this particular spill was not fully appreciated,” argues Dr. Tim Crone, a Lamont Assistant Research Professor.

Columbia’s response to this issue, including Dr. Crone’s work this summer, not only shed light on a critical national issue, but also demonstrated the influence and value of the collective academic community at Columbia.

“I think it was really clear to the Columbia community as a whole that we needed to do whatever we needed to do in order to help understand this particular accident,” states Dr. Crone.

While the hole is patched up and the oil has stopped leaking into the ocean, work on the issue has just begun. Studies and cleanup will continue in order to aid everyone, and everything, in the Gulf's ecological community on its way to recovery.

“I hope that the ecosystem and the economic system of the Gulf can recover as fast as possible. In some regards, it looks like it’s doing quite a good job, but I think the jury’s still out on exactly what the effects are going to be.”

With the flow of oil stopped, the Gulf is on the path to recovery. Through future studies at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, we will continue to learn more about this and other issues in the natural world.