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WHOI-South Korean exchange

It is considered South Korea’s worst oil spill. On Dec. 7, 2007, the Hebei Spirit leaked more than 11,000 tons of oil near Taean National Marine Park. Three different types of petroleum were spilled, creating an excellent field test of how different “brands” of oil vaporize, or get weathered or eaten by microbes, or remain in the environment. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration helped arrange for Dr. Un Hyuk Yim of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute to visit the lab of WHOI marine chemist Chris Reddy this November to use a technique called comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography to identify different oil compounds (represented by peaks on the computer screen) in samples from the spill. He will help transfer this technique back home to South Korea. Meanwhile, WHOI President and Director Susan Avery is giving the keynote address today at a World Ocean Forum in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Robert Nelson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)