Gulf oil now in powerful Loop Current, scientists say

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has entered an ocean current that could take it towards Florida and up the east coast of the US, scientists say.

The European Space Agency said satellite images suggest oil could reach the coral reefs of the Florida Keys within six days.

"We have visible proof that at least oil from the surface... has reached the current," said Dr Bertrand Chapron.

The ESA images show a tendril of oil extending south into the Loop Current.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10127904.stm

[closeupready]

1. Here we go.

:(

[ensho]

2. so, six days to dive the reef before it gets oily

nt

[Juneboarder]

3. I'm trying to remain optimistic

in light of all this horrible news. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully at least some of the ecosystem will survive...

[Bragi]

6. Juneboarder wrote:

<i>Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully at least some of the ecosystem will survive...</i>

The ecosystem will survive, it will just be a whole lot different.

And there is no reason to think this particular 'accident" will be the last one.

Regardless of what regulations are put in place to calm everyone down, occasional blowouts would seem to be an inevitable result of our unsafe, untested and high-risk deepwater oil extraction gamble.

[nashville_brook]

4. so long -- it's been nice knowing 'ya

[dipsydoodle]

5. First easily visible sign

would the birds moving away with no little fish , which feed on pankton , available for the birds to eat in their usual abundance. :(

[nashville_brook]

10. that actually gives me a little hope -- that, they will have a reason to get away from here.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Didn't mean to depress you.

I only knew by association because I watched a documentary which showed the way in the bird population in the Shetlands is changing as the sea gets warmer and the planckton move north.
No planckton means no little fish on which the gulls feed and as a result less eggs to hatch.

[nashville_brook]

15. oh no -- you didn't depress me - i'm serious -- i'd much rather the wildlife get the hell away

from the plumes and be somewhere safe.

i'm already plenty depressed about this, and there's no end. there's no answer...no solutions. it just keeps billowing oil and we can't do a damn thing about it.

[zazen]

21. "Protein! Plankton! Fish from the sea. . . "

Who remembers that from Logan's Run?

God, I'm so colonized by popular culture.

[liberal N proud]

11. ..

:cry: :grr: :nuke:

[ixion]

7. It was only a matter of time

And considering that a) it's still gushing (not 'leaking') and; b) there are now several hundred thousand gallons of toxic pollutants mixed into this, I think it's pretty safe to say the Gulf of Mexico will be a toxic sludge basin for many years to come. :cry:

[RedCloud]

8. Goodbye dolphins. I will miss you like a flower misses sunshine.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[CLANG]

14. And you're welcome for all the oily fish...

[SkyDaddy7]

9. Something no one is talking about...

Or I have seen nothing about it yet...With Hurricane season getting ready to start there is the real possibility that a hurricane could come through the Gulf and pick up the oil and spray it all over the southeast!! I have no idea how much worse that would make this problem but I would like to hear some experts/scientist give their opinion.

If anyone has read anything about this possibility could you post a link if possible? Thanks!

This is so bad is so many ways!!

[tosh]

13. In the earlier stages of this...disaster,

I did hear some scientists talking about this. They said that hurricanes are actually GOOD in this scenario, nature's best dispersant.

I don't have a link. I think it was teevee.

I'm hanging on to that. I'm clinging to anything that gives me a glimmer of hope.:cry:

[TheMadMonk]

16. Hurricane shouldn't "pick up" oil and rain it out over land.

It could unfortunately push considerable quantities onto shores, paticularly if it tracked through the thickest part of the spill and straight onto the Mississippi delta. It would also break the slick up into small blobs and help drive off a lot of volatiles. This should with luck accellerate the formation of tarballs which while still bad, are a marked improvement on fluid, sticky oil that has the capacity to "wet" sand, vegetation and fauna.

Tarballs that come ashore are also a lot easier to clean up.

Hurricanes should prove to be a mixed blessing, and if the track is right, a considerable boon.


With luck too, the oil that makes it into the loop current will have gassed off a lot of its volatiles in the warm waters and tropical sun. Hopefully more tarballs, and a goop thick enough to maintain a certain cohesion and not break off the sides of the loop current. I doubt it will be good for anything in the direct path of the loop current, but perhaps what lies to either side will be less affected if cohesion keeps the oil within the current.


There isn't a hope in hell of collecting any significant fraction of what's already escaped from the blowout. Dispersal in a form that isn't too toxic is about the best we can hope for. And getting a cap on the bloody thing as soon as is humanly possible.

[SkyDaddy7]

28. Experts say a Hurricane can pick up oil & move it...

Question remains how far. And how far a storm surge could push the slick. Kinda ironic I asked the question and the New York Times had just posted this article!

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/05/17/17climatewire-researchers-ponder-a-hurricane-hitting-the-o-86257.html

[Igel]

19. Not how it works.

Hurricanes pick up "water"--i.e., moisture. It gets sucked up high enough until it cools. That falls as rain.

You might get a small amount of the more volatile, easily evaporatable, components present in the rain. But you'd get that in the air in any event--if it blew in the right direction.

I almost answered you--I think it was--when you voiced the same concern few days ago. Should have.

[SkyDaddy7]

25. Me?

I asked about hurricanes & the oil slick? I am not saying I did not but if I did then my memory is far worse than I thought! AAHHHH!

[SkyDaddy7]

29. No, storms can pick up more than moisture!

And when we are talking about the strongest storms on the planet experts say they can pick up oil...Question is how far can they move it. Plus, the storm surge pushing the slick much further inland that it would go under normal conditions.

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/05/17/17climatewire-researchers-ponder-a-hurricane-hitting-the-o-86257.html

[DRex]

23. A hurricane wouldn't pick up the oil.

It might blow it around a little, but it couldn't rain oil on the southeast if that's what you mean.

[florida08]

17. sorry we're such bad stewards and didn't protect you

We're gonna pay for this

[HCE SuiGeneris]

18. We are killing ourselves, and oh so many innocent creatures...

I cannot bear it :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Uncle Joe]

20. Here is a nice temperature flow map of the ocean current courtesy of Lochloosa on another thread.

Thanks for the thread, dipsydoodle.

[FLPanhandle]

22. Thanks for that picture.

Best one I've seen yet showing the current. North and South Carloina, the Florida Keys, and South Florida are fucked.

[florida08]

24. my thanks as well

nice clear pic of our destruction

[sam kane]

26. oh no, oh no, oh no. how can this be? nt

nt

[gimama]

27. House hearing on the c-span

Rep.Steve Cohen(d-TN/Memphis) You've already ruined the GULF..I don't want you to ruin the Arctic,too!"

Rep.Steven Kagen (d-WI)just got bpsob to admit their chosen dispersants contain arsenic, that arsenic is now in the Gulf Waters.. "Arsenic is NOW in our food chain!".. McKay had to concede.

Please join me in calling/emailing DC..
Mother Earth, & WE, are SO screwed Y'All :cry: