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NASA satellite imagery on Monday shows that the rapidly expanding oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has entered a powerful current known as the Loop Current, which flows through the straits of Florida and along the eastern seaboard as far north as North Carolina before heading out into the Atlantic. The entrance of the oil slick into the Gulf Loop Current is what officials fear will be a catastrophic event.
The pollution could endanger Florida's shoreline mangroves, sea grass beds and the third-longest barrier reef in the world, the 221-mile-long Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Millions of snorkelers, fishermen and other tourists are drawn to the Keys each year, whose dollars are vital to the state's economy.
This is bad news for Florida residents. Once the oil is in the loop, it could reach the Keys in as few as 10 days. "It's only a question of when," said Peter Ortner, a University of Miami oceanographer. The Sun-Sentinel reported that the oil slick not only poses a danger to the Florida Keys, but also to the southeast coast from Miami to West Palm Beach and as far north as coastal North Carolina.
"When" could be sooner rather than later, as the Coast Guard reported today that tar balls have already been found on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West on Monday. Park rangers conducted a shoreline survey of the beach and the adjacent Navy beach at Truman Annex and recovered the tar balls at a rate of nearly three tar balls an hour throughout the day, with the heaviest concentration found at high tide, around 12:30 p.m. Samples of the tar balls were collected and will be shipped to a laboratory for analysis to determine the origin of the source.
According to the satellite imagery, the oil slick on the surface of the water has rapidly increased in size. SkyTruth, an independent research organization, states that "the total area covered by slick and sheen, at 10,170 square miles...is nearly double what it appeared to be on the May 14 radar satellite image, and is bigger than the state of Maryland."
Several researchers in the Gulf last weekend, furthermore, reported the discovery of giant plumes of oil beneath the surface of the water, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick, suggesting that the magnitude of the leak is far greater than BP and the federal government have estimated. The general consensus among scientists is that the leak is anywhere between four and 15 times greater than the official estimate.
These reports indicate that the majority of the oil in the Gulf is located below the surface of the waves. Scientists aboard the research vessel Pelican are attempting to map the plumes in order to determine if they will also be transported east in the Loop Current.
This news comes just after a report of BP’s first break of good luck after claiming that they have been successful in installing a siphon into the main leak. That siphon may be able to capture five to 40 percent of the oil erupting from the floor of the ocean, based on the 5000 barrel per day estimate.
Florida residents are asked to report the sighting of any tar balls to the U.S. Coast Guard at 1-800-424-8802. Any oiled shorelines can be reported at 1-866-448-5816.
Update 2315 EST: Check out OpEdNews for photos of tar balls.
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Comments
You forgot to add that there is NO evidence that the balls of tar found near the Keys came from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to the scientists from the State of Florida.
Then where did they come from, Blas? Mars?
Tar Balls wash up on shore here in Florida with some regularity. We have cruise liners, oil tankers and freighters steaming up and down our coast constantly. These tar balls they are finding aren't necessarily from the oil spill.
I have a bridge to sell to whoever believes the government when they tell us that "5,000 barrels a day are leaking".
We simply need to build boats that will scoop up oil as they go forward and convert the raw oil into a usable fuel. Then we will cut the costs of ocean travel, people will be able to pan for oil nuggets on the shoreline and will be able to scratch out a living like the gold rush in California. Homeless people all over North Amerika will flock to the Florida Keys for this new "Oil Rush". Merchants will make a fortune selling these new residents wine, beer, crack, meth and whores. It will be just like the wild, wild west. When you get lemons, just make lemonade.
There is no doubt the oil plume has entered the loop current,its only a question of time before oil starts washing up on the beaches of the keys contrary to what govt. sources say.
You should ask the Coast Guard where the tar balls came from, not me. They confirmed that they are not from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Perhaps a little less hysteria and a little more perspective should guide our reaction to the spill. It is light crude, which is highly volatile and evaporates fast. As large as the volume of the spill is, it is a drop in the bucket when compared to the volume of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The farther it moves from the source, the more diluted it gets. There will not be a thick layer of sludge washing ashore on our beaches. A Mexican offshore well spilled a lot more oil into the Gulf of Mexico several years ago and we didn't even notice. context is a terrible thing to lose.
i think now things going to be much more expensive and less animals living in waters and people getting sick from the smell
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