Oil droplet transport in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released 5 million barrels of oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico. The high pressures and turbulent flow at the wellhead resulted in shearing forces that created oil droplets of generally microscopic size. Although initially buoyed upward due to initial velocity and natural gas bubbles entrained in the flow, these oil droplets were eventually transported according to Stokes´ Law and ocean currents.