Amazing, New Gulf Oil Pictures From USM Research Vessel

[tekisui]

Source: WLOX (Biloxi)

GULF OF MEXICO (WLOX) - A team of Mississippi scientists is documenting the growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Vernon Asper, Professor of Marine Sciences at USM and Chairman of the Commission of Marine Resources, sent an email to WLOX News saying he's at "ground zero" of the oil spill and got within 1,000 yards of the site of the leak from the Deepwater Horizon well.

"It hasn't seen any dispersant applied and is pretty fresh," Asper said. "We have been sampling the sediments at and to the north of the site and haven't seen large amounts of oil in the sediments, but that's not too surprising, given how deep the water is. This afternoon, we visited an area where National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST) has been studying the sea floor for nearly a decade and there was a LOT of oil there," Asper wrote.

Asper is on the Research Vessel Pelican working with NIUST researchers from the University of Mississippi. The group is on a two-legged cruise according to Asper.

On the first leg, researchers are looking at the sediments around the site and at some aspects of the water, as well as what's floating on the surface.

"NIUST has been supporting a permanent sea floor observatory site less than 10 miles from the spill center; so we are very interested in seeing how it will impact the area and we have an enormous amount of baseline data with which to compare these measurements," Asper wrote.

Images at link (no injured animals, just oil slicks): http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12442376

[lunatica]

1. It's sickening

Thanks for posting...

[FLAprogressive]

2. Ironically that station is in the heart of Gene "Chocolate Milk" Taylor's district.

[NotThisTime]

3. unbelievable sight :(

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. The first handful of those are mind blowing

[stevedeshazer]

5. Horrifying.

This is just terrible.

:(

[lostnfound]

6. Can anyone explain what we are looking at in Picture #9?

It looks like a giant wave full of black stuff..??

[Lochloosa]

10. It looks like a painting to me. I don't think it should be in this series

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Turn the picture sideways. It shows the prow of a ship cutting through the water. nt

[flamingdem]

7. I am only seeing the small pictures, am I missing larger ones? nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Wow

[SargeUNN]

9. Go University of Southern Mississippi

I had to post that since I am an alum.

[TacticalPeek]

20. .

Ray Guy rulz!

[Bluebear]

11. Will some members here still think this is "fearmongering"?

[lonestarnot]

13. Someone actually had a comment re fearmongering on the gusher?

[Bluebear]

15. Oh, yes, believe it or not.

It's the "size of a postage stamp".

It's far less a disaster than the Exxon Valdez.

It's a "shiny object" that we're watching until a few weeks from now when something else captures out attention.

:puke:

[QC]

16. I'm not shocked.

Not even mildly surprised.

[lonestarnot]

19. Considering trolls, I guess I'm not either.

[QC]

21. It's become impossible to tell the difference between

the freeper trolls and the pragmatic centrists lately.

[lonestarnot]

18. Fucking A.

[malaise]

14. Frightening

:cry:

[Uncle Joe]

17. What a tragedy, it looks like the Dead Sea will have a competitor.

:-(

Thanks for the thread, tekisui.