During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the spring/summer of 2010, spill responders and the community at large raised many operational questions about what would happen to the released oil.

A response tool called the "Oil Budget Calculator" was developed for the National Incident Command under the leadership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This tool provides quantitative predictions of the primary end states of the oil spilled at 5,000 feet under the sea surface.

Ali Khelifa and Patrick Lambert from the Emergencies Science and Technology Section (ESTS) collaborated with a group of international oil spill researchers to develop and review the "Oil Budget Calculator." They were acknowledged for their significant scientific contributions to the development of the "Calculator" and to the review of the new version. A detailed document, posted on the Restore the Gulf website, answers questions about the fate of the oil:

Oil Budget Calculator – Deepwater Horizon, Technical Documentation – A Report to the National Incident Command

The report includes eight references to scientific articles published in the Proceedings of Environment Canada's annual Arctic and Marine Oil Spill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response.

Contacts: Carl Brown (613) 991-1118; Ali Khelifa (613) 991-9455; and Patrick Lambert (613) 991-1110, Water Science and Technology Directorate