Oil Spill - Florida, Cuba, Bahamas & Eastern Seaboard Prospects, Deep Horizon Blowout

[ricki]

More on possible outcomes to the Keys and east coast mainland from National Geographic. Hope it doesn't come to this but it might. It really seems to depend on how long oil is allowed to continue to pump into the Gulf and prevailing wind patterns. If this had happened a couple of months ago while strong cold fronts were still passing, the Loop Current may well have transported a lot of crude. With the seasonal easterly winds it may not happen as soon. Of course with tropical systems over the summer, this could change.

"Gulf Oil Spill Could Reach East Coast Beaches
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"If oil gets swept up by the Loop Current, the crude should take about ten more days to hit the Florida Keys, Roffer said.

Spilled oil can be eaten and digested by animals, chemically altered by sunlight, or broken into different-size droplets by winds and currents—among other "weathering" processes that can change the oil's buoyancy as it travels.

If it's picked up by the Loop Current, the tarlike, smelly oil won't have weathered enough to lose its noxious properties by the time it reaches Florida.

The floating oil could get pulled into inlets and harbors along the peninsula, where it would settle into the mangrove forests that are nurseries for many species of sea life, Roffer pointed out.

"You can't go to every mangrove and clean off every root from the oil," he said.

As oil travels farther north via the Gulf Stream, weathering would cause the crude to sink deeper into the water column, he added, further complicating cleanup. (Related: "Gulf Oil Spill Fight Turns to Chemicals.")"


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