PBS has a great video and article on how dispersants are being used in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blow-out. The video is below.
The related article linked at the bottom has another video on using methane to measure the oil spill. The article starts:
On Thursday’s NewsHour, Spencer Michels reported on the ongoing controversy over the use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has sprayed nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant — mostly a brand called Corexit — into the Gulf in order to break up the oil into smaller droplets that can be more readily consumed by microorganisms.
This is well worth a read.
Source: Scientist Studies Oil Dispersant’s Effects, Methane in the Gulf – PBS