Overview
Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Water & Air joined with federal, state, and private organizations in a multi-year effort to assess the environmental impact to the affected regions. Tasked with evaluating aboveground plant samples, belowground root samples, and benthic samples, a project-specific database was created at the onset of the project. The database is housed at Water & Air’s campus and is responsible for many aspects of sample and data management. Examples include: custody tracking, bench-sheet generation, sample labels, randomized quality control procedures, on-the-fly reports detailing custom statistical analysis, data entry using predictive input, and easy Excel integration. These are just a small subset of the features that continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of our clients.
Task Summary
- Generated data reports for the plant and animal taxa present, the health of sample components, oil saturation, and biomass of samples from coastal areas affected by the oil spill.
- Created a system to house and express the data generated by our laboratory team and taxonomists.
- Provided high quality data deliverables in a timely manner to our partner entities.
Results
Since the project commencement, Water & Air has amassed a large collection of data within an easy-to-use custom database that can evaluate data, identify aberrant points, and assist in resolving data issues early in the process. While the project continues, the data produced by Water & Air’s sustained efforts will be invaluable for making decisions about the long-term and short-term effects of the ecological impact of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
