The oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was sealed earlier this week — for good this time. The amount of oil that it spewed forth between the initial explosion until it was finally stopped has been under much scrutiny. After studying the data and watching video footage of the leaking well, scientists at at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have published the first independent, peer-reviewed report detailing the most accurate amounts we’ve seen so far. The verdict? That this was the largest marine oil accident ever, leaking 56,000 to 68,000 barrels daily.
“We wanted to do an independent estimate because people had the sense that the numbers out there were not necessarily accurate,” said lead author Timothy Crone, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.
