Dr. Kristen Thyng's Research on the Texas City "Y" Oil Spill

Aug 2, 2016

In March 2014, a massive oil spill occurred in the Galveston Bay near the Texas City “Y” when an inbound cargo ship had collided with an oil tank-barge. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, over 168,000 gallons of oil was spilt into the bay. Most of the oil washed up on shore and tar residue was left on the beaches around Galveston. Within a few days, the same oil and tar residue was washing up on the shores near the Mustang and Padre Islands.

Dr. Kristen Thyng, an Assistant Research Professor at Texas A&M University, and a few of her colleagues began a research experiment ­– with the goal being to recreate an oil spill from Galveston Bay, near the Texas City “Y”. In her report, the research group analyzed 44 total tarball samples that were collected after the Texas City oil spill on Galveston Island and Mustang Island.

“With a combined interdisciplinary effort, my co-authors and I used numerical modeling to examine the oil transport, tarball source-fingerprinting, chemistry, and microbiology together to better understand what occurred during the spill” said Dr. Thyng. By the end of the research, they were able to successfully demonstrate an integrated approach to determining the fate of spilled oil.

Dr. Thyng and her research team were able to successfully demonstrate an integrated approach to determining the fate of spilled oil. The link below directly connects you to Dr. Kristen Thyng’s published paper on her findings during her research.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X16303964