DURHAM — It's easy to see the effects of the Gulf oil spill above the water, as oily waves float on the ocean's surface, rescued animals are covered in black liquid and beach cleanups continue.

DURHAM — It's easy to see the effects of the Gulf oil spill above the water, as oily waves float on the ocean's surface, rescued animals are covered in black liquid and beach cleanups continue.



But harder to target, is whether oil is lingering far beneath the water's surface, how much there is and the effects it has at the depths of the ocean. That's where scientists at the University of New Hampshire's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping come in.



The center was one of approximately 12 other oceanographic facilities selected in May to assist with oil spill recovery following a meeting in Washington, D.C., with President Barack Obama's science and energy advisors as well as administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.



"The focus was on what the academic community can bring to the table," said Dr. Larry Mayer, professor and director at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. "That's our job as a natural center of excellence. You hope they would call on us when these things happen."



Mayer brought three slides with him to the Washington meeting that show the center's work in mapping the sea floor and a multi-beam sonar that detected a gas plume about 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface in Mendicino, Calif. Mayer proposed that same sonar could be used to detect the presence of oil below the surface of the water.



"We develop maps of the sea floor so they don't look like the old maps with numbers but two-dimensional, natural looking, and much easier to work with," Mayer said.



According to most recent data, which is being retrieved and analyzed daily, the sonar as Mayer proposed has detected oil approximately 4,000 feet below the water's surface.



Starting in late May, sonar equipment was installed on two NOAA vessels — the Thomas Jefferson and Gordon Gunter — conducting research in the area of the spill. Instead of using multi-beam sonar, as Mayer originally anticipated, UNH scientists installed fisheries sonar that was better suited for the oil research. In addition to the sonar, other equipment was added like a flourometer, which illuminates oil or other matters.



"Our concern and focus was the deep oil. You can see oil on the surface and keep track of it," Mayer said. "But below, where is it, how much is there and where is it going?"

The first cruise — the term used for missions such as the Gulf research — with UNH scientists started in Galveston, Texas, and travelled to New Orleans, then out to the well heads where the spill originated. There they mapped around the well heads and conducted sampling of the water in those areas



"The real experimental work is can we see the oil with the sonar," Mayer said. "When we were out there, it was a real question."



At least one of the center's scientists have remained on the NOAA vessels and data is sent in daily from the Unified Command Center. Mayer reviews the data each day and reports with a Joint Analysis Group, which includes Tom Webber, a fisheries scientist and professor at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping.



In two specific areas, Mayer and his crew believe they have found the presence of oil 3,700 to 4,000 feet below the water's surface.



"There are high fluorescent values, in many cases we believe are associated with oil," he said. "The other thing we found is a lot of natural gas seeps we can see quite nicely coming out of the sea floor."



Just two days after these high fluorescent values were found, a subsequent look showed they were no longer there. It is unclear what this means, Mayer said, and a question the center continues to search for the answer to.



"Oil should float to the surface, but something is keeping it deep. This is a very intriguing scientific question," he said.



There are still many unanswered questions, which Mayer and others continue to try to answer, but results the UNH center are gathering will help gain some long-term understanding of the oil spill.

"What we're looking for is ways to use tools to help direct ships to see where they should be testing," he said.



The research is being conducted in addition to the regular work of Mayer and other scientists at the center, he said, and is extremely time consuming.



"It's a lot. We're putting a lot in because it just doesn't stop. The data keeps coming in and even after it stops, the analysis will keep going for a long time."



It's an important role and one in which Mayer is pleased to be a part. When he became an oceanographer, he didn't think the profession would lead to such a meaningful venture.



"I never thought about it. I just wanted to be an oceanographer. It's nice to know you can pursue something you want to do and it can have a helping side to it."