Impacts of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On Beaches – An Analysis of the Past, Present, and Future Status of Alabama’s Beaches

In June 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident began washing ashore along Alabama and Florida coastlines. Alabama’s sandy beaches were heavily inundated, primarily by emulsified oil which survived all emergency remedial actions in its 150-mile journey from the Macondo Prospect well to the Alabama shoreline. This resulted in significant contamination of beaches and the associated water resources. In this presentation, we will present our current understanding of what are the knowns and known-to-be unknowns with regard to the current state of Alabama’s beaches in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. We will provide both observational field data and detailed chemical characterization data collected by our team to discuss how the residual oil trapped in the near shore environment has evolved over the past two years. We will also share our thoughts on some possible unknown unknowns that could potentially affect the future status of these sandy beaches.