While speculation has run rampant as to where the oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon will disperse, Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s (DISL) undergraduate Oceanography class will be searching for hard facts as they assist with data collection and oil spill trajectory forecasting. On Friday June 4, 2010, the class will be deploying seven surface drifters offshore southwest of Dauphin Island to track the currents carrying the oil slicks.

The drifters carry Global Positioning System (GPS) units and transmit data every four hours to scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.  Information on the water currents will be uploaded by DISL scientists and students and used to generate accurate maps of oil dispersion patterns around the northern Gulf and Mississippi Sound. The class is anticipating that some of the drifters will coast around the Mississippi Sound giving a more precise view of how currents interact with the numerous passes and barrier islands of the northern Gulf.

DISL’s summer school programs serve 21 colleges and universities throughout Alabama. Students normally spend 5 to 10 weeks on campus taking a variety of marine science and policy courses. The recent oil spill has provided a unique learning experience for this year’s classes. For more information on DISL and its educational and science programs, visit www.disl.org.

Release prepared by:
Kristy Allen and Martha Perry,
DISL summer Oceanography course students

For information related to this release, contact:
Dr. Monty Graham, Senior Marine Scientist
Dauphin Island Sea Lab
251-861-2141 x2272
251-753-7588 (cell)