Oil-covered litter washing up on Florida beach linked to 2019 Brazil oil spill
Newsy
A new study links oil found on Palm Beach debris to a 2019 Brazil spill that traveled 5,200 miles across the Atlantic on floating plastic.
Oil from a massive 2019 spill along Brazil's coastline traveled more than 5,200 miles across the Atlantic Ocean before washing up on the shores of Palm Beach, Florida, according to a newly published study.
Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts used advanced chemical fingerprinting and ocean current modeling to trace black, sticky residue found on Palm Beach debris back to the Brazilian spill. The study describes oil hitchhiking on plastic debris as an emerging form of pollution.
WATCH COVERAGE BELOW:
The discovery began with Diane Buhler, founder of Friends of Palm Beach, who has walked the same stretch of Palm Beach shoreline for more than 10 years, documenting what the tides leave behind.
In 2019, something unusual began appearing.
