Visualizing the BP Oil Spill

An explosion on the BP operated Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed eleven crew members on April 20, 2010, sparking the greatest environmental disaster in United States history. In combination with the Texas City Refinery Explosion and the Prudohoe Bay Oil Spill, this marked the third serious incident involving BP in the United States in five years. Scientific estimates put the amount of oil that was being discharged from the broken well at above 1,470,000 US gallons per day!

There are over 400 different species of animals living in the area affected by the spill. 464 sea turtles and 60 dolphins were found dead within the spill area (NOAA). BP operated oil skimmers and other cleanup tools to try to remove oil from the water and Louisiana began building oil containment berms to halt the spread of oil. On July 15, 2010 BP sucesfully stopped the flow of oil from the wellhead, after spilling 190 million gallons of oil into the gulf over a period of 3 months.