Crude oil or oil distilled product (e.g. gasoline, diesel fuels, jet fuels) spills can occur during oil exploration, production, and transportation activities. Environmental impacts of spills are complex and can be difficult to assess. The chemical makeup of oil and oil products is diverse which affects oil behavior (e.g. volatilization, sinking). Oil degradation and fate are also influenced by environmental factors such as salinity, temperature, and surface vs underground spills. Oil can impact living organisms both directly (dermal contact, inhalation, ingestion) and indirectly (bioaccumulation in food sources, disruption of recreational activities). USGS scientists have decades of experience supporting assessment and restoration activities for the largest oil spills in U.S history, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Examples include oil spill remote sensing, vegetation surveys, ecotoxicological impacts, marsh ecology impacts, sea turtle modelling, immunosuppression of oiled biota, coral ecology, and avian and mammalian injury and recovery.
To learn more about how USGS science supports the NRDAR program contact Jo Ellen Hinck, the USGS NRDAR Coordinator.
Return to USGS Science for DOI Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program
Browse USGS publications related to NRDAR oil spill cases.
Examples of assessment and restoration projects are below.
Assessment Projects
- Histopathology of Bird Carcasses
Principal Investigator - Julia Lankton
- Ambient Water Concentrations of PAHs at an Oil Spill Using Semi-Permeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs)
Principal Investigator - David Alvarez
Principal Investigator - David Alvarez
- Remote Sensing Estimation of Surface Oil Volume During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico
Principal Investigator - Gregg Swayze
Restoration Projects
- Population Dynamics Model for Least Bell's Vireo Restoration after the Santa Clara River Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Barbara Kus
- Enhancing Prey Availability for Wintering and Migrating Surf Scoters Damaged by the Cosco Busan Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Susan De La Cruz
- Marbled Murrelet at Sea Survey, Cosco Busan Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Josh Adams
- Detecting and Inferring Cause of Change in an Alaska Nearshore Marine Ecosystem
Principal Investigator - James L Bodkin
Explore the NRDAR Case Map and Document Library to learn more about individual cases.
Return to USGS Science for DOI Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Below are USGS publications for oil spills associated with specific NRDAR cases.
Marsh canopy structure changes and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Marine ecoregion and Deepwater Horizon oil spill affect recruitment and population structure of a salt marsh snail
Development of a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle stock assessment model
Biomarkers reveal sea turtles remained in oiled areas following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Mapping changing distributions of dominant species in oil-contaminated salt marshes of Louisiana using imaging spectroscopy
Gene transcript profiling in sea otters post-Exxon Valdez oil spill: A tool for marine ecosystem health assessment
Migratory corridors of adult female Kemp’s ridley turtles in the Gulf of Mexico
Status of scientific knowledge, recovery progress, and future research directions for the Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi Vladykov, 1955
Oil slick morphology derived from AVIRIS measurements of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Implications for spatial resolution requirements of remote sensors
Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) Vegetation Volume Index: An assessment tool for marsh habitat focused on the three-dimensional structure at CRMS vegetation monitoring stations
Impact of Deepwater Horizon Spill on food supply to deep-sea benthos communities
Natural and unnatural oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico
Crude oil or oil distilled product (e.g. gasoline, diesel fuels, jet fuels) spills can occur during oil exploration, production, and transportation activities. Environmental impacts of spills are complex and can be difficult to assess. The chemical makeup of oil and oil products is diverse which affects oil behavior (e.g. volatilization, sinking). Oil degradation and fate are also influenced by environmental factors such as salinity, temperature, and surface vs underground spills. Oil can impact living organisms both directly (dermal contact, inhalation, ingestion) and indirectly (bioaccumulation in food sources, disruption of recreational activities). USGS scientists have decades of experience supporting assessment and restoration activities for the largest oil spills in U.S history, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Examples include oil spill remote sensing, vegetation surveys, ecotoxicological impacts, marsh ecology impacts, sea turtle modelling, immunosuppression of oiled biota, coral ecology, and avian and mammalian injury and recovery.
To learn more about how USGS science supports the NRDAR program contact Jo Ellen Hinck, the USGS NRDAR Coordinator.
Return to USGS Science for DOI Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program
Browse USGS publications related to NRDAR oil spill cases.
Examples of assessment and restoration projects are below.
Assessment Projects
- Histopathology of Bird Carcasses
Principal Investigator - Julia Lankton
- Ambient Water Concentrations of PAHs at an Oil Spill Using Semi-Permeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs)
Principal Investigator - David Alvarez
Principal Investigator - David Alvarez
- Remote Sensing Estimation of Surface Oil Volume During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico
Principal Investigator - Gregg Swayze
Restoration Projects
- Population Dynamics Model for Least Bell's Vireo Restoration after the Santa Clara River Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Barbara Kus
- Enhancing Prey Availability for Wintering and Migrating Surf Scoters Damaged by the Cosco Busan Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Susan De La Cruz
- Marbled Murrelet at Sea Survey, Cosco Busan Oil Spill
Principal Investigator - Josh Adams
- Detecting and Inferring Cause of Change in an Alaska Nearshore Marine Ecosystem
Principal Investigator - James L Bodkin
Explore the NRDAR Case Map and Document Library to learn more about individual cases.
Return to USGS Science for DOI Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Below are USGS publications for oil spills associated with specific NRDAR cases.