© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

40-Year-Old Oil Spill Offers Clues To Deepwater Horizon's Long-Term Impact

Scientists from the U.S. and Mexico are teaming up to find out how the environment in the Gulf of Mexico is recovering from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They’re examining satellite data from the Ixtoc oil spill in 1979 off the Mexican coast to see how the area near the Deepwater Horizon spill might look in the future. David Levin has our report.

This story was made possible by the C-IMAGE Consortium, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and Mind Open Media. You can find the full series, “Beneath The Horizon,” here.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The Ixtoc I oil spill. This spill was caused by a blown out oil well. The well ran wild for nine months and spilled over 140 million gallons of oil into the Bay of Campeche. (Collection of Doug Helton, NOAA/NOS/ORR)
/
The Ixtoc I oil spill. This spill was caused by a blown out oil well. The well ran wild for nine months and spilled over 140 million gallons of oil into the Bay of Campeche. (Collection of Doug Helton, NOAA/NOS/ORR)