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Troubled Waters

In June 2010 WHOI personnel investigated the fate of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. WHOI’s ABE/Sentry group and scientists Rich Camilli and Chris Reddy used the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry, equipped with the TETHYS underwater mass spectrometer developed by Camilli, to map a mid-water hydrocarbon plume as far as 20 miles from the broken well. After mapping missions Sentry often returned to the surface through slicks of crude oil, but the Sentry crew had special training from the WHOI Safety Office for dealing with the oil. (Photo by Dana Yoerger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)