Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - laboratory

During decades this reef base for underwater observation and research has been fundamental in understanding reef dynamics and is unique in its capability to continuously house teams of scientists to research a variety of subjects related to Marine Biology, Oceanography and other fields of study. NOAA’s Aquarius Reef Base is an underwater habitat located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to Conch Reef. It is one of the few underwater research facilities in the world dedicated exclusively to scientific research. Aquarius is owned by the NOAA and operated by the University of North Carolina–Wilmington until 2013 when Florida International University (FIU) took over operations.

An interesting article by the leading Brazilian newspaper O Globo, signed by Journalist Marcio Beck, brings to light the need to urgently create a database with information on the “DNA” of oil produced in Brazilian fields. According to researchers from the Academia and from the O&G industry, this is essential in order to speed up the identification of those responsible for any given oil spill. According to the article, the basic characteristics found in the formation of an oil reservoir, such as types of stones, sediments and organic matter along with time, temperature and pressure conditions, which give a distinct DNA to each different oil reservoir. Therefore, it would be possible to identify from which field any given oil sample originated from.