Rapid: Molecular Level Characterization and Archive for the 2010 BP Oil Spill

化学部的环境化学科学（ECS）计划将支持教授的合作RAPID研究项目。佛罗里达州立大学国家磁铁实验室的艾米·麦肯纳、艾伦·马歇尔和瑞安·罗杰斯。该合作团队将在国家磁铁实验室使用最先进的质谱仪，以确定墨西哥湾深海地平线石油泄漏的确切分子特征。随着时间的推移，他们将监测这种分子特征的演变，以确定形成了什么样的降解副产物。本研究的样本将由获得NSF RAPID奖（OCE-1043976）的伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的Christopher Reddy教授提供，以估算深海地平线井口排放的海底油渗漏和上涌油羽产生的碳氢化合物溶解通量。这项研究对于阐明深地平线石油泄漏对墨西哥湾生态系统的影响至关重要。随着时间的推移，更好地了解石油及其分解产物的分子特征，对于制定清理战略，使墨西哥湾和墨西哥湾海岸线恢复到“深地平线”漏油灾难之前的状况至关重要。

The Environmental Chemical Sciences (ECS) program of the Division of Chemistry will support the collaborative RAPID research project of Profs. Amy McKenna, Alan Marshall and Ryan Rodgers of the National Magnet laboratory at Florida state University. The collaborative team will employ start of the art mass spectrometry instruments in the national magnet laboratory to determine the exact molecular signature of oil from the Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They will monitor the evolution of this molecular signature over time as the oil degrades to determine what degradation by-products are formed. Samples for this study will be provided by Prof. Christopher Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who received an NSF RAPID award (OCE-1043976) to develop estimates of hydrocarbon dissolution fluxes arising from the sea floor oil seep and upwelling oil plume emitting from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. The study is crucial to elucidate the impact of the Deep Horizon oil spill on the ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. Better understanding of the molecular signature of the oil and its decomposition products over time is imperative to development of clean up strategies to restore the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf coastline to their condition prior to the Deep Horizon oil spill disaster.