Is the Oil Spill Headed for Rhode Island?
Friday, June 04, 2010
As the Gulf Coast oil spill continues to spread, a NCAR computer simulation shows that it might soon extend thousands of miles up the Atlantic Coast, coming uncomfortably close to Rhode Island.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Will the oil reach Florida?’” says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock. “Actually, our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet to be understood.”
Oil has been spewing out of a undersea oil well since April 20. But because it is sitting in a stagnant area, its effects have largely been confined to the coasts of Louisiana and Alabama. But once it gets caught up in the fast-moving Loop Current, it will swing around Florida and shoot thousands of miles up the Atlantic Coast, according to NCAR.
“The computer model shows the oil can move as far north as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, before turning east—it’s not known where it will go at that point,” said Rachael Drummond, a spokeswoman for NCAR.
The slick could show up on the Atlantic side of Florida in a matter of weeks, according to NCAR. Once it has entered the faster currents of the Gulf Stream, the slick will move at speeds of up to 100 miles a day, crossing 3,000 miles a month.
Just how much oil will make it out into the Atlantic Ocean is also unclear. NCAR said it did not know whether the oil would be a thin film on the surface or mix with waters underneath.
At this point, some people are even wondering if the spill will make it all the way to Europe.
“We have been asked if and when remnants of the spill could reach the European coastlines,” says Martin Visbeck, University of Kiel, Germany researcher who was involved in the NCAR study. “Our assumption is that the enormous lateral mixing in the ocean together with the biological disintegration of the oil should reduce the pollution to levels below harmful concentrations. But we would like to have this backed up by numbers from some of the best ocean models.”
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Comments:
John Santilli
5:45pm on Friday, June 04, 2010
I realize that the "politics" are sensitive given the origin of "BP". That said, I would like see The America's fashion mandatory controls for any non American company to do business within the Gulf. This kind of arrogance cannot be allowed i. e., BP assumed that they would not have a problem and were not prepared for the occurrence or the aftermath. I believe that a Mexican and USA 300 mile limit where it would not interfere with the rights of other nearby countries would solve all future gulf problems of this nature and a few others... Lets test our law makers on this one with respect to "Open Seas" and International Law.