There are many ships at work right now in the Gulf of Mexico responding to the devastating consequences of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Some are skimming the water to collect oil, some are burning off the oil. Some are busy digging a relief well. However, there is at least one vessel that is using this tragedy as an opportunity to conduct scientific research. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ship, Thomas Jefferson, is using acoustic and fluorometric scanning to detect oil under the surface.