BP’s Discoverer Enterprise burns off methane gas at the site of the blown wellhead.
in the water. It could take decades to replenish oxygen after serious depletion in the deep water, she explains. “That’s gonna cause problems for anything and everything that lives in that water.” For Joye, that is a personally devastating discovery. It was at Texas A&M in the mid-1990s that she became truly fascinated with the Gulf of Mexico. Being there “really opened it up for me because many of my colleagues there had years of experience working in the Gulf,” she says. “I learned a lot from them and my experience there helped me start the basic research program I have continued and expanded since coming to UGA.” “I care about this system. It’s a body of water I have invested a lot of myself in. It’s not just an oil spill. For me, it’s personal.” That passion is likely what drew the media to her early on. But what also has kept them coming back is her ability to explain complex scientific scenarios in a way that those without a science background can understand. She has one more month-long research cruise to the Gulf coming up in November. While she’s gone, her husband of seven years, fellow UGA marine scientist Christof Meile, cares for their daughter Sophie, now 2 and a half.
“My husband is a saint,” Joye says. “He understands how important this is. But our life is important, too.” That’s why she’s implemented a new rule: She no longer responds to messages from reporters who call her home. “You have to be willing to draw lines to protect your personal life.” But as annoying as the interruptions can be, she knows her research, and the reporting of it, are important. “Honestly,” she says, “this is where my heart’s always been—the Gulf.” —Sandi Martin is public relations coordinator for the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. She accompanied Joye on a May research trip to the Gulf.
GET MORE Follow Mandy Joye on her blog at http://gulfblog.uga.edu. For more on the Department of Marine Sciences, go to http:// alpha.marsci.uga.edu. “BLACK & BLUE: Beneath the Gulf Oil Disaster” follows Professor of Marine Sciences Samantha Joye and her team aboard the research vessel F.G. Walton Smith. The documentary is available for on-line viewing at high resolution at http://128.192.61.138/Black_and_Blue/BB_30_large.m4v. Go to http://128.192.61.138/Black_and_Blue/BB_30_medium. m4v for a low-resolution version.
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