Scientists brace for oil impact

Researchers stationed on the Gulf Coast are bracing for the oil spill's impact on long-term study sites that are likely to be disturbed -- including taking special hazardous material training just to complete scheduled data collection.

Image: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

Oil gushing from British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon well, which blew out on April 20 and has been spewing forth millions of barrels of petroleum since, has yet to make landfall in great quantities. But marine scientists have already begun to brace for its impact on their ongoing projects. linkurl:Monty Graham,;http://faculty.disl.org/mgraham.html a biological oceanographer at Alabama's state-run Dauphin Island Sea Lab off the coast of Alabama, told __The Scientist__ that researchers are now training to handle hazardous materials. "We're rushing around trying to get HAZWOPER [Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard] training," he said. Graham is part of an intensive linkurl:six-year study;http://press.disl.org/PDFs/focal.pdf of fish larvae and plankton along...