The Deepwater Horizon Tragedy: The Victims Are Still Suffering, Six Years Down the Line

It’s the largest accidental oil spill in history. Over 130 million gallons of oil were accidentally spilled into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, spreading the catastrophe to Louisiana and with traces of slick spreading further to the Florida Panhandle. Six weeks after the accident, the severely damaged wellhead of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was still spilling thousands of gallons of oil every single day.

Marine life was destroyed and people died while others got severely ill. Six years down the line, people who were exposed to the massive spill are still sick and suffering.

The Use of a Chemical Dispersant: The Biggest Mistake of All Time

Right after the massive spill, a chemical dispersant was used to break up the oil. This move was made even after government scientists expressed concern about the adverse health implications of mixing large quantities of chemical dispersants with millions of gallons of crude oil.

According to occupational health experts, it’s this toxic mix that caused numerous health complications (that doctors were unable to treat) among the locals as well as some of the 47, 000 people who took part in BP’s (British Petroleum) cleanup operation.

Exposure to the thick fumes of crude oil and the chemical dispersants brought all sorts of health complications such as seizures, dizziness, uncontrollable ear and nose bleeds, blood stool, blindness due to irreversible optical nerve scarring, memory lapses, brain damage, chronic respiratory complications, heart damage, infertility in women, severe headaches, nerve damage, internal bleeding, chemical pneumonia, premature aging, decline in cognitive function, and all sorts of neurological problems.

According to Michael Harbut, an environmental and occupational health expert, and a professor at Michigan State University, exposure to organic solvents such as the chemical dispersants used to break up the oil cause the same adverse effects as lead poisoning.

He also believes that some of the victims who were heavily exposed could experience chronic adverse health effects such as kidney and liver disease, developmental disorders, birth defects, and a rise in certain types of cancers such as lung, leukemia, lymphoma, and skin cancers.

Michael Robichaux, a nose, throat, and ear therapist also believes that a good number of people who were heavily exposed to the chemicals will undoubtedly be ill for the rest of their lives.

Lawsuits

According to figures from claims administrators, more than 37, 500 victims filed claims by 2010. The British Petroleum company agreed on a $7.8 billion medical settlement that would have each victim get up to $60, 700 per person.

This class-action settlement also allowed the victims to file further claims should they develop more serious health complications.

Sadly, only a small fraction of the claims have been paid and up to now, many are still pursuing the lawsuits. It might take years before they finally obtain these claims.

Six years down the line and the victims of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy are still suffering. Maybe if things could have been done differently, the aftermath wouldn’t have been so catastrophic.

Hopefully, the same mistakes will be avoided in future accidental spills as clearly, the health effects are just too much to deal with.

What Effects Do Ocean Currents Have on Climate and Weather?

Ocean currents are either permanent or continuous directed movements of ocean water that flow in our Earth’s oceans. These currents flow in complex patterns affected by the winds, heat content, earth’s rotation, water salinity differences, and ocean bottom topography. Ocean currents flow for thousands of kilometers.

Ocean currents play a huge role in earth’s climate and weather, especially in continents bordering oceans. A good example of ocean currents in regions bordering the oceans is the Gulf Stream which causes Northwest Europe to be more temperate compared to other regions with the same latitude.

One major factor of climate change is the temperatures of ocean water across the globe, and how they change on a yearly basis. Changes in ocean temperatures have a big effect on weather patterns, including providing energy for coastal storms and creating hurricanes.

Ocean Currents and Earth’s Rotation, Seasonal Winds

Earth’s rotation and seasonal winds push surface ocean water away from some western coasts, which causes the water that rises on the western edges of the continents bordering the ocean to replace it. This is why the ocean is usually much colder on the east coast compared to the west coast.

Ocean Currents and Heat Content

Oceans act as massive heat-retaining solar panels. Besides retaining heat, they also distribute the heat around the globe.

The heat causes water evaporation which in turn increases temperature and humidity in the surrounding air, forming rain and storms which are then carried by trade winds over long distances. The tropical regions of continents near oceans are particularly rainy are ocean evaporation is higher in these areas.

In other words, even the smallest changes in the ocean currents can have a huge effect on continental and global climate.

Ocean Currents and Heat Redistribution

Ocean currents play a crucial role in heat redistribution around the globe. When ocean water is heated by the sun near the equator, the winds transfer it to higher latitudes where it cools off and sinks.

This cold water then makes its way back to the Equator and the cycle repeats itself. This system is known as Thermohaline Circulation System. The effect of this is that regions in higher latitudes become colder compared to those near the Equator (lower latitudes).

Ocean currents basically act like conveyor belts which transport water and precipitation from the equator to the poles and back. Without these currents, continental temperatures would be extreme, meaning that regions around the Equator would be extremely hot while those around the polar region would be extremely cold, making most of these areas inhabitable.

Therefore, ocean currents do play a very crucial role on the Earth’s climate and weather.

Jellyfish Stings And Their Trailing Tentacles

Jellyfish are free-swimming aquatic animals with gelatinous umbrella shaped bell and trailing tentacles. The bells assist them in movement by propelling them forward. Though they may seem harmless from outside, their tentacles can be used against their predators to inject toxins in the body of others, resulting in painful stings.

Jellyfish have special cells along their tentacles called cnidocytes. Attached with these cells are harpoon like structures full of venom, called nematocysts, which are a whip like hollow tubule and lies coiled under high osmotic pressure. When mechanical or chemical stimuli activate an external trigger, the lid of the cell pops open and sea water rushes in. This forces a microscopic harpoon, i.e, the nematocysts to shoot out and penetrate the skin of the victim in lesser time than what it takes for us to blink. The main cause of this discomfort is a type of protein called porin found in the venom of all jellyfish.

The Nematocysts can continue to fire even when the jellyfish becomes dead. So, it is quite important to remove them. Also, each cell can only fire once, so that they do not release nematocysts at every object that crosses their paths. The cnidocytes have both mechanical and chemical receptors that control the discharge. Hair cells detect touch while chemo-receptors sense the chemicals released by predators and prey. When the jellyfish encounters something that doesn’t have the appropriate chemical composition, the nematocysts does not fire. This adaptation ensures that they do not sting themselves.

While Jellyfish do not actively attack humans, when their tentacles come in contact with human flesh, stingers are released as a part of their natural defence mechanism. Most of the stings injected by these creatures are harmless to humans & do not possess any serious threats. But still, it is important to know methods in which its effect could be minimised in least time. Some remedies for jellyfish stings are described below.

The most easily available remedy for the stings is vinegar. Rinsing it with vinegar will usually render un-discharged nematocysts and make them inactive. Seawater can also help to remove residual nematocysts. But, we should be careful not to use freshwater, as any change in salt balance alters the osmotic pressure outside the nematocysts and will trigger the venom to fire. While most of the jellyfish stings are painful, some can be deadly too, for example the Sea-wasp Jellyfish.

So, keeping the above facts in mind, be careful , the next time you go to the shore.

Mariana Trench - The Deepest Part Of The Ocean

Post scrutinizing facts we humans have finally come to a conclusion that in all these years we could only explore nothing more than 5% of the ocean. The most deep-seating point in the ocean might be thousands of miles below; however, parts of the ocean which has been already discovered labels it's deepest point as the Mariana Trench. Located in the Pacific and approximately 124 miles east to the Mariana Islands, this sickle-shaped trench is 1580 miles in length with a width of 43 miles. The Mariana Trench has been explored by as few as two mortals till date while scaling the highest point of the world has been a common odyssey for a lot of explorers.

The maximal depth recorded of the Mariana Trench is 10,994 metres which stands its ground on a channel-shaped valley named the Challenger Deep. The base of the trench wields a pressure of 1086 Bars boosting the density of water by 4.96% and maintaining a temperature of 1-4 degrees celsius throughout. Explorers have discovered Xenophyopores which are colossal deep-sea unicellular organisms with multiple nucleus residing at a depth of 10.6 kilometers from sea-level. Named after the Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria this trench is part of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana diminution system which forms the perimeter between two tectonic plates. The oceanic crust at the western edge of the trench is believed to be as old as 170 million years.

The Mariana Trench has also aided explorers and researchers in the analysis of the seismic plates and structures even at a depth of 97 Kilometers. Trieste, a bathyscaphe owned by the US navy was the first to explore the site in the year 1960 with Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard as pioneers. Later on remotely operated underwater vehicles such as Kaiko, Nereus and also James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger followed the footsteps of Trieste. A new species of Snailfish had been ascertained in the year 2014 which has been recorded as the deepest living creature ever caught on tape.

A proposed site for the demolition of nuclear waste, a dumping ground is what exactly the Mariana Trench is turning out to be. Triggered hopes among individuals persists; strongly pertaining to the fact that the subduction of the tectonic plates might thrust the nuclear waste into the mantle. But we often overlook the adverse effects of tectonic plate movements leading to Earthquakes and causing a catastrophe in the ecosystem. High time we realize that 71% of our planet is made of water.