FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin The first large-scale experiment of its kind has demonstrated that fire whirls can burn oil spills more quickly and cleanly than traditional fire pools, highlighting their promise for ocean cleanup efforts, according to Texas A&M University. In the critical hours after an offshore oil spill, responders face a difficult choice: allow the oil to spread or set it alight. When ignited, the oil forms an ‘in-situ’ fire pool that prevents further spread and limits damage to marine ecosystems, but at a significant environmental cost. Dense black smoke rises into the air, toxic soot is released into the atmosphere and a layer of unburned sludge remains on the ocean’s surface. RelatedNews Watch: Hybrid diesel-electric CSOV gets delivered Norway leads efforts to make nuclear propulsion commercially viable var jnews_module_21365673_0_6a038101af54a = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_type":"all","sponsor":false,"number_post":"2","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"unique1","include_post":"","included_only":false,"exclude_post":"21365673","include_category":"","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"1740,201,2759,1737,1641,2115","exclude_tag":"","exclude_visited_post":false,"post_tag":"","tribe_events_cat":"","web_story_category":"","web_story_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","show_date":"","date_format":"default","date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","pagination_mode":"disable","pagination_nextprev_showtext":"","pagination_number_post":