Kemp's Ridley turtles released

GULFPORT, Miss. - Four endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles were released Monday into Mississippi Sound after being healed at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies. The turtles were caught by fishermen in May and June. Three were treated for hook wounds after being caught at local piers. The fourth had been in what officials said was critical condition after being revived on a shrimp boat. IMMS President and Executive Director Moby Solangi believes since Mississippi waters didn’t have as much oil as other states, more wildlife sought refuge from the crude here. (Source: Sun Herald, 08/30/10)

Degraded oil tested for dispersant

Degraded oil collected in the Mississippi Sound tested positive for several of the main ingredients in Corexit, the dispersant used to break up oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. That's according to scientists working for a New Orleans-based lawyer. The oil was collected a mile north of Horn Island Aug. 9. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/31/10) Earlier this month, Dauphin Island Sea Lab Director George Crozier and Robert Shipp, chairman of the University of South Alabama's Marine Sciences Department, said at a lecture that using dispersants to combat the spill will cause problems in the northern Gulf of Mexico for years to come, but not because the chemicals used to break up the crude pose any health risk. They said the problem is that by suspending bits of oil in the water column, generations of filter-feeding organisms could be lost in portions of the northern Gulf. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/28/10)

Funds to improve university connectivity

Mississippi will get a portion of $20 million being awarded by the National Science Foundation to enhance broadband access and bolster connectivity for academic research. NSF awarded 17 universities or state education groups. In one project, money will be used so Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi can expand Gigabit accessibility to researchers in modeling and multiscale simulations of complex systems. The upgrade will bolster the state's capacity to pursue collaborative research in biological systems simulation, computational biology, and computational chemistry. Another project in Louisiana is also of interest to Mississippi. That state will receive money to extend the high-bandwidth optical network of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative to Xavier University in New Orleans. LONI provides cyber infrastructure across Louisiana, and includes Mississippi’s four research universities. LONI is Mississippi’s connection to the National LambdaRail, a coast-to-coast broadband network for advanced research. Each award provides just over $1 million for up to two years. (Source: NSF, 08/25/10)

NIUST gets $4.87M

The University of Mississippi-led National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology is getting $4.87 million in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The funding will be used for infrastructure costs associated with operating and managing the institute, as well as for individual research projects. NIUST was established in 2002 through a cooperative agreement involving the University of Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi and NOAA's Undersea Research Program. NOAA also released $999,000 for the nonprofit Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss. (Source: WLOX-TV, Mississippi Business Journal, 08/18/10) NIUST has three divisions, including the Undersea Vehicles Technology Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Underwater oil subject of search

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - A three-pronged search of the Mississippi Sound for underwater oil will begin this week and will include Vessels of Opportunity and six Mississippi-owned skimmers, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality officials said Tuesday. Trudy Fisher, MDEQ executive director, said the search for submerged oil would provide a complete picture of whether any oil remains in the water. The search will extend from Mobile Bay to the Louisiana state line. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/18/10)

New study ups remaining oil estimate

A team of Georgia researchers using government data estimates that as much as 79 percent of the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon well remains at large in the Gulf of Mexico. The estimate is by researchers with the University of Georgia and Georgia Sea Grant. Two weeks ago the federal government issued a report saying three quarters of the oil had been captured, burned, dispersed, evaporated, degraded or dissolved in the water. The Georgia report, unlike the federal analysis, was not subject to peer review. (Source: New York Times, USA Today, 08/17/10)

Study to focus on salt marshes

The National Science Foundation has awarded a rapid response grant to scientist Eugene Turner of Louisiana State University and colleagues to measure the impacts of oil and dispersants on Gulf Coast salt marshes. The researchers will track short-term and longer-term exposure to oil and dispersants. The coast of Louisiana is lined with extensive salt marshes whose foundation is two species of Spartina grass. The biologists will document changes in these critically-important grasses, as well as in the growth of other salt marsh plants, and in marsh animals and microbes. The grant is one of many Gulf oil spill-related rapid response awards made by NSF. The agency so far has made more than 60 awards totaling nearly $7 million. (Source: NSF, 08/16/10)

Oil recovery panel created

Gov. Haley Barbour has created a panel of scientists, business leaders and local officials to study the impact of the BP oil disaster and come up with a long-term recovery plan. The Mississippi Gulf of Mexico Commission will be a 34-member board of scientists and business leaders, with representatives of local governments serving as ex-officio members. The panel will work with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance and various state agencies to develop a plan to submit to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the former governor of Mississippi. (Source: Sun Herald, 08/16/10)

Project harvests 3,000 pounds of shrimp

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - An aquaculture project at the Gulf Coast Research Lab has harvested about 3,000 pounds of shrimp, the largest since the program began in the mid-1980s. The project is designed to show the viability of raising saltwater shrimp at a commercial facility. Eight of a dozen tanks at the Cedar Point lab were drained Tuesday morning, yielding the shrimp. The tanks are 100 feet long, 11 feet wide and 30 inches deep. Jeff Lotz, chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coast Sciences and director of the marine aquaculture program at GCRL, said the program aims to harvest about 500 pounds of shrimp per tank every 13 weeks, the minimal production for a commercial facility. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/11/10)

Sea level rise topic of study

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded $750,000 for the first year of a $3 million research project to develop the information and tools needed to plan for sea level rise and other consequences of climate change along more than 300 miles of the northern Gulf of Mexico’s shoreline. The study team, led by Dr. Scott Hagen of the University of Central Florida, will develop sea level rise computer models to predict the impacts storms and rising water levels pose to an area between coastal Mississippi and Northwest Florida. The area being studied has three sites in NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System. (Source: NOAA, 08/05/10)

Cement in well has hardened

BP says the cement sealing the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has hardened and engineers can now begin drilling the final 100 feet of a relief well meant to permanently seal the blowout. The company said it will be next weekend before the two wells meet. The company used pressure tests to confirm the cement from the static kill had hardened. (Source: AP via Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 08/08/10) The Deepwater Horizon blew up April 20, killing 11 workers. Some 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico until the well was capped July 15. It's the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

State waters opened

All state waters in Mississippi will open to commercial and recreational fishing late Friday. The reopening involves all territorial waters including those south of the barrier islands to finfish and shrimp fishing that were closed because due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. All commercial and recreational crab and oyster fishing remain closed in the affected areas. (Source: Sun Herald, 08/06/10) The Deepwater Horizon spewed millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico between April 20 and July 15. It’s now been sealed with heavy mud and cement.

Scientists: Most of leaked oil gone

Some three-quarters of the oil from the BP spill is has been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down. That's according to a federal report released today based on estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of the Interior. The figure is based on 4.9 million barrels of oil released from the well between April 20 and July 15, when the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well was capped. Heavy mud was packed into the well between Tuesday and today. (Sources: Multiple, including NOAA, USAToday, Bloomberg, 08/04/10)

Well killed by heavy mud

The BP well that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico has been killed by heavy drilling mud. BP made the announcement early Wednesday. Technicians will determine, perhaps as soon as today, whether to follow the mud with cement that would seal the well permanently. (Source: McClatchy via Sun Herald, 08/04/10) The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. Oil flowed freely until a cap was put in place July 15.

New oil spill estimate released

A new analysis by government scientists says the runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico gushed 4.9 million barrels, or 205.8 million gallons of oil, the largest accident spill ever. The well spewed out 62,000 barrels a day initially, then eased to 53,000 barrels a day until it was capped July 15, according to the Flow Rate Technical Group. Of that, some 800,000 barrels were captured. The new numbers were released Monday night. It's considerably higher than the 138 million gallons from the Ixtoc I blowout in 1979. A pumping test and a "static kill" at the site will be delayed until Tuesday after a small hydraulic leak was discovered in the capping stack hydraulic control system. (Sources: Washington Post, Bloomberg, AFP, 08/02/10) The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. BP leased the rig from Transocean.