A Link Across the Ocean Using Biomarkers in Oil
Oil-contaminated water bottles and other plastic debris traveled thousands of miles through the Atlantic Ocean, from Brazil to Florida. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Assistant Professor Bryan James, chemical engineering, shares his research regarding the 2019 oil spill in Brazil, linking it to a German supply ship through biomarkers.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Noah Lloyd.
How a Brazilian ‘mystery’ oil spill traveled over 5,000 miles to the sands of Palm Beach, Florida
In 2019, Brazil experienced the largest oil spill in its history, affecting nearly 1,800 miles of coastline. No one knew its origin.
The story doesn’t end there. A year later, Florida beach cleanup crews started finding plastic trash contaminated with oil. New research from Northeastern University has made a positive link between the two events: The oil that stained Brazilian waters black in 2019 was the same oil that polluted Florida in 2020, more than 5,000 miles away.
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Scientists used these chemicals to link oil samples collected 5,000 miles apart. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
The mystery oil spill
First, what caused all that oil to be released in Brazil?
Bryan James, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, suggests that the most likely theory points to the SS Rio Grande, a German supply ship and blockade runner sunk by American vessels in 1944, off the coast of Brazil.
Many sunken ships, James explains, are “ticking timebombs” as their holds rust over the years. Eventually, their tanks rupture, releasing all that oil.
The connection to the Rio Grande, James continues, was made because of other debris washing ashore — notably large rubber bales identified as coming from the German blockade runner. These bales have appeared on beaches from Belize and Brazil to Florida and Texas.
They don’t know for sure if the oil is also from the Rio Grande, because “nobody’s gone and tapped that ship and collected a sample of oil” for comparison, he says. However, the distribution of rubber bales, along with the oil and contaminated plastic, suggests a strong link.
The Rio Grande, and ships like it, remain inaccessible due to the logistics involved in reaching them. For example, the Rio Grande lies at a depth of over 5,700 meters, or 3.5 miles.
Friends of Palm Beach
Diane Buhler was an investment banker who loved scuba diving on her vacations. After losing friends in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she sought a radical change. Eventually, she settled in Palm Beach, Florida. While she already loved its coral reefs and marine life, she started walking the beaches, and paying closer attention to them, as a resident.
What she discovered was shocking — thousands of pounds of trash washed ashore along eight miles of beach.
Buhler turned that shock into action, launching the nonprofit Friends of Palm Beach in 2013. The group employs homeless individuals to remove trash from the area, operating five days a week, year-round, she says.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News: Oil Spill With No Clear Origin Traveled From Brazil to Palm Beach