Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
The gulf of mexico an overview
ORCID
0000-0002-5280-7071
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Oceanography
ISSN
10428275
Publication Date
3-1-2021
Abstract
The Gulf of Mexico is a place where the environment and the economy both coexist and contend. It is a resilient large marine ecosystem that has changed in response to many drivers and pressures that we are only now beginning to fully under-stand. Coastlines of the states that border the Gulf comprise about half of the US southern seaboard, and those states are capped by the vast Midwest. The Gulf drains most of North America and is both an economic keystone and an unintended waste receptacle. It is a renowned resource for seafood markets, recreational fishing, and beach destinations and an international maritime highway fueled by vast, but limited, hydrocarbon reserves. Today, more is known about the Gulf than was imagined possible only a few years ago. That gain in knowledge was driven by one of the greatest environmental disasters of this country’s history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The multitude of response actions and subsequent funded research significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge and, perhaps most importantly, to guiding the work needed to restore the damage from that oil spill. Funding for further work should not wait for the next major disaster, which will be too late; progress must be maintained to ensure that the Gulf continues to be resilient.
DOI
10.5670/oceanog.2021.115
Volume
34
Issue
1
First Page
30
Last Page
43
NSUWorks Citation
Larry D. McKinney, John G. Shepherd, Charles A. Wilson, William T. Hogarth, Jeff Chanton, Steven A. Murawski, Paul A. Sandifer, Tracey Sutton, David Yoskowitz, Katya Wowk, Tamay M. Özgökmen, Samantha B. Joye, and Rex Caffey. 2021. The gulf of mexico an overview .Oceanography , (1) : 30 -43. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1224.
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