Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact on Gulf of Mexico Coral Community

This dataset quantifies visible changes to a deep-sea coral community 11 km southwest of the Deepwater Horizon blowout site over 17 months following the 2010 spill. It documents the condition of gorgonian corals, including coverage by a hydrocarbon-containing flocculent material and the onset of hydroid colonization. Data were collected during five site visits from November 2010 to March 2012.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between initial floc coverage on coral colonies and subsequent hydroid colonization observed in later visits.
• Model the temporal decrease in median proportions of colonies showing obvious impact signs across the five study visits.
• Investigate the patchy nature of impact within and among coral colonies to infer dispersion patterns of the impacting agent.
• Assess the relationship between apparent coral recovery by March 2012 and the proportion of coral covered with floc in late 2010.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned 17 months with five distinct site visits, providing a temporal sequence of impact assessment.
• The study focuses on a specific coral community at 1,370 m depth, 11 km from the spill site, offering a localized deep-sea case study.
• Impact metrics include quantifiable proportions of colony coverage and categorizations of coral condition, enabling statistical analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to a single coral community, restricting generalizability to other impacted areas or coral species.
• Observations are based on visible changes from digitized images, which may not capture sub-lethal physiological or chemical impacts.
• The study period of 17 months may be insufficient to document the full long-term recovery or deterioration of these long-lived corals.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository, authored by Pen-Yuan Hsing.

Collection Method

Condition quantified by digitizing images of individual coral branches from five site visits and categorizing their state.

Time Range

Observations conducted over 17 months, from November 2010 to March 2012.

Freshness

Data last updated in 2020, representing a finalized study from events in 2010-2012.

Geography

A deep-sea coral community in the Gulf of Mexico, located 11 km southwest of the Deepwater Horizon blowout site at 1,370 m water depth.