Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, mysterious
honeycomb material was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico and
along coastal beaches. Using state-of-the-art chemical forensics
and a bit of old-fashioned detective work, a research team led
by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
confirmed that the flotsam were pieces of material used to
maintain buoyancy of the pipe bringing up oil from the seafloor.
The researchers also affirmed that tracking debris from damaged
offshore oil rigs could help forecast coastal pollution impacts
in future oil spills and guide emergency response efforts—much
the way the Coast Guard has studied the speed and direction of
various floating debris to guide search and rescue missions. The
findings were published Jan. 19 in Environmental Research
Letters. On May 5, 2010, 15 days after the Deepwater Horizon
explosion, oceanographer William Graham and marine technicians
from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab were working from a boat about
32 miles south of Dauphin