Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG)

DESCRIPTION: The ECOGIG-2 (Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf – 2) Research Consortium conducts multi-scale, multidisciplinary research to study the impacts and fates of oil and gas released in offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The ECOGIG-2 team’s work will improve our ability to understand, quantify, and predict the large- and small-scale processes that distribute and degrade hydrocarbons throughout the Northern Gulf, from the deep seafloor to the ocean surface. ECOGIG-2 scientists will work at scales ranging from molecules to ecosystems, and from point source inputs to the entire Gulf system. The program will employ novel, highly sophisticated technologies to achieve in situ monitoring of benthic and water column dynamics on time scales from a few weeks to as long as a year.