Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Oil Spills

Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Oil Spills

Mon February 6th, 2012
Karin Lemkau in WHOI's Oceanus Magazine

 

I don’t do San Francisco like most people.
 
I skip the cable cars, Lombard Street, Alcatraz, and the fine restaurants and museums. Soon after my flight arrives, I drive my rental car north over the Golden Gate Bridge and hike uphill a half-mile where I am rewarded by breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and steep slopes filled with dry grasses and brilliant green vegetation. But that’s not what I’m after. I trek a mile farther down a treacherous slope to a small beach, where I find what I’ve been seeking. 
 
Rocks. Rocks with oil on them.

MIT/WHOI graduate student Karin Lemkau collected samples of oil from the Cosco Busan spill that remained on rocks in several locations around the San Francisco Bay area. She has been analyzing them to learn what happens to various chemical compounds in the oil after it is released to the environment. (Camilo Ponton, MIT/WHOI Joint Program)"I don't do San Francisco like most people. I skip the cable cars, Lombard Street, Alcatraz, and the fine restaurants and museums. Soon after my flight arrives, I drive my rental car north over the Golden Gate Bridge and hike uphill a half-mile where I am rewarded by breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and steep slopes filled with dry grasses and brilliant green vegetation. But that’s not what I’m after. I trek a mile farther down a treacherous slope to a small beach, where I find what I’ve been seeking. Rocks. Rocks with oil on them." 

Read more about Lemkau's work in this Oceanus article.

 
Rocks. Rocks with oil on them.