Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2011) — In a detailed assessment of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, researchers led by a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have determined that the blown-out Macondo well spewed oil at a rate of about 57,000 barrels a day, totaling nearly 5 million barrels of oil released from the well between April 20 and July 15, 2010, when the leak was capped. In addition, the well released some 100 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas.
The results -- published in the Sept. 5, 2011 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) -- are in line with the federal government's official estimates, but just as importantly validate the innovative measuring techniques the team employed. The accuracy of the measurements was crucial because, "Ultimately, the impact of the oil on the environment depends primarily on the total volume of oil released," according to a report by the Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG), a collection of research teams charged with using different means to generate an accurate estimate of the amount of oil released into the Gulf.
The new study represents a comprehensive look at the data and findings of the flow rate investigations, focusing on the quality and accuracy of the on-the-fly, under-pressure measurements last summer. "It provides a rigorous assessment of the statistical and systematic uncertainty in our earlier findings," said WHOI scientist Richard Camilli, lead author of the PNAS paper.
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