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

[Danimal8199]

So word on the street is that a giant oil spill exists and is predicted to bring oil to the keys. 20 tar balls happen to wash up in an area expected to get hit by oil yet these are unrelated? I'm not buying this one...

[ricki]

Lots of oil in the ocean, finger printing crude is usually fairly easy to do as well. Any reports of rafts of tar balls off the Keys or new reports of tar balls on the beach? Seems like it is a matter of time but a lot depends on what quantity makes it into the Straits along, consistency of it and local weather conditions.

and

"Loop Current might swing west, lessen Keys oil threat

With Monroe County newly added to Florida's list of areas under a state of emergency because of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Florida Keys residents can do little but watch the meandering of the Loop Current.

But some good news: Oceanography researchers at the University of South Florida told the Tampa Tribune Friday that the Loop Current that would carry oil or tar down to the Keys could be shifting to the west, which could potentially direct the spill away from the Keys. Chuamin Hu, a UCF oceanography associate professor, called the perceived shift "absolutely good news for the Florida Keys. But that's not a 100 percent certainty. It's a possibility."

Earlier this week, experts concluded that some oil from the month-old spill had entered the Loop Current, which normally circulates through the Gulf of Mexico. The current tends to carry gulf water down the state's west coast to the Florida Straits, which run eastward past the Florida Keys. A "tendril" of oil apparently had become caught in the outer bands of the current, which means some oil could reach Keys waters in days. Tar balls were found at seven locations in the Lower Keys Monday and Tuesday -- and since then some have been found as north as Islamorada -- but tests conducted at a U.S. Coast Guard laboratory concluded the chemical makeup of the Lower Keys balls proves they are not from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Information on the ones found in Islamorada wasn't available. However, tar balls similar to those could be the most visible sign of the spilled oil reaching the Keys, officials acknowledged.

Some businesses have reported cancellations. The Key West Chamber of Commerce launched a survey on Friday asking how the spill has affected local businesses. The "Deepwater Horizon oil spill has created uncertainty in the minds of potential visitors," the chamber says. Islamorada offshore charter captain Larry Wren said one customer canceled his booked motel for a July trip and changed his fishing reservation "from a definite to a maybe," depending on the spill situation.

"Another customer called to ask if we were still going out" Friday, Wren said. "I told him everything is fine." "There is definite worry about there" on local fishing docks, Wren said. "We were already impacted this year by the economy, and now this comes along. It's craziness.""

Complete article at:
http://www.keysnet.com/2010/05/22/22...wing-west.html

[ricki]

"Oil stays away from South Florida for now

South Florida has gained a temporary reprieve from the danger of globs of oil arriving from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the state's top environmental official.
Michael Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said that two disruptions in the loop current, which leads from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf Stream off the southeast Florida coast, should keep the oil away, at least for now.

An eddy at the top of the current has drawn away the portion of the slick that had been caught in the current. And at the south end, another eddy has pinched off the current entirely, he said. "This is great news," Sole said, speaking at a news conference with Gov. Charlie Crist at the state's emergency operations center in Tallahassee. "And what it does is keep the oil from getting into the Florida Straits."

Oil — at least in the degraded congealed form of tar balls — had been expected to arrive in the Keys and South Florida within the next two weeks or so, but Sole said the disruptions in the current have stopped any movement of oil to the area. But the main part of the slick, which remains dozens of miles from the loop current, could constitute a much greater threat to South Florida if it got caught in the current. Also there is an unknown amount of oil beneath the ocean surface from the still-leaking well."


Continued at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...,6559446.story


... and where's Waldo the AUV?



"What will 'Waldo' find: Mote Marine releases robot into Gulf to search for oil
By KATY BISHOP
KEY WEST — This time, we know where Waldo is — it’s his turn to look for something.
Researchers hope that a robot named Waldo will help them track oil in the Loop Current in waters off Key West. Scientists and engineers with Mote Marine Laboratories released the yellow, torpedo-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle into the waters about 25 miles northwest of the island Tuesday afternoon.

The robot, programmed by researchers, will swim along a designated course, diving deep and rising again and again, looking for oil in the water. If it finds oil, it will record the geographic position and depth, as well as the concentration — and then send that information by satellite to researchers who are monitoring it."

"The robot detects pure oil, oil with dispersants and weathered oil. Two similar robots are already deployed in the waters closer to the spill. Mote put another one in the Gulf last week off Venice and plans to put another one in the waters off the Keys. “The biggest value that this thing has is it’s 24/7 data,” said Alan Hails, an oceanographic instrument engineer with Mote. Over a period of about three weeks, Waldo will travel almost due west to a point about 50 miles north and 30 miles west of Dry Tortugas, sending information each time it surfaces."

"Experts predict by the time the oil reaches the Keys it will be weathered into tar balls, which float on the surface, said David Vaughan, director of Mote’s center for coral reef research, who is captaining the boat. Tar balls probably wouldn’t affect the coral reefs as much, since the reefs are on the bottom, but they could get stuck in sensitive mangrove shorelines or sea grass beds. More concerning for corals is the chemical dispersant used by British Petroleum, he said. It’s been shown to be highly toxic to both hard and soft corals, with a 85 to 100 percent mortality rate."

"When it’s time to dive, Waldo takes on water, making itself heavier, and when it wants to rise to the surface, it pushes that water out, Hails explains. At the surface, a bladder inflates with air, popping the tail out of the water so the antenna can communicate with the satellite. The scientific instruments are clustered in the center of the robot’s torpedo-shaped body, where there are four windows for Waldo to send out LED light beams. Sensors read the light reflected back from the water, calculating if there’s oil in the water by the amount reflected back. And that’s just the start — there are also other sensors that make sure that organic matter isn’t misidentified as oil, and devices that log temperature and depth and more."


http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/...ase-robot-gul/

[ricki]

NOAA pulls Fishery Closure zone back westward into the Gulf away from the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Keys while moving it eastward into Florida's Panhandle.



Details: "NOAA Opens 16,000 Square Miles of Fishing Closed Area in Gulf of Mexico
Closes 2,200-square mile stretch
June 4, 2010

NOAA has opened more than 16,000 square miles of previously closed fishing area off the Florida coast. The most significant opening is a 13,653-square mile area just west of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. It was initially closed on June 2 as a precaution because oil was projected to be within the area over the next 48 hours. However, the review of satellite imagery, radar and aerial data indicated that oil had not moved into the area.

Additionally, the agency closed a 2,275-square mile area off the Florida panhandle federal-state waterline, extending the northern boundary just east of the western edge of Choctawhatchee Bay. For what it is worth, not much at this point, I was out a couple of miles offshore between Hillsboro Inlet and Hallandale Beach Blvd. yesterday. Fair quantity of sargassum mats but no overt evidence of tar balls or unusual oil slicks. Hope it stays that way."
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...4_opening.html

...



"Efforts to contain the flood of oil into the Gulf of Mexico showed the first signs of progress as 6,000 barrels of oil were pumped to the surface after the fitting of a containment cap over the blown well, officials said Saturday, but it was an incremental step that offered no guarantees of long-term success.

At a morning news briefing, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, commander of the national response to the disaster, said BP officials still had not closed the four vents of the containment cap, which would allow the well to begin pumping oil to the surface at far greater capacity.

In the meantime, thousands of gallons of oil are flowing into the sea as the massive slick hits shorelines and marshalnd in areas including Louisiana’s fishing towns and Florida’s white-sand beaches, where rust-colored globs are began washing ashore.
Allen said it was crucial to close the vents slowly to avoid putting too much pressure on the cap, which is being held in place with the help of a rubber gasket. “They’re easing the pressure up to the vessel … so they can maintain control of the oil,” said Allen.
As the vents are closed, officials must also ensure that water is not filtering in to mix with the oil and create hydrates, which led to the failure of an initial capping effort last month.
That requires the pumping downward of methanol, meaning officials must maintain a delicate balance at depths of 5,000 feet in conditions that could be disrupted in the event a major storm or hurricane forms. Hurricane season began Tuesday.
Allen said the full closure of the vents and the ramping up of oil production would depend on various conditions.
“They’re making sure they don’t increase the production rate until it is safe to do so,” said Allen. He also noted that the containment cap was only an interim, partial solution that was never guaranteed to fully plug the leak. A cap can only go so far – the only real solution is the completion of two relief wells currently being drilled. When they are finished, it will enable BP to plug the blown well and stop the spill, the worst in U.S. history.
One of the relief wells has been drilled to about 7,000 feet beneath the sea floor, less than half the distance it needs to go. The wells are not expected to be finished until early August."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gree...-cautious.html

...


"Containment cap on spewing Gulf oil well offers hope even as slick spreads to new shores
RAY HENRY, 12:38 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2010

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A device sucking some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered a bright spot Sunday for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst oil spill. The containment cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 441,000 gallons of oil Saturday, BP spokesman Mark Proegler said Sunday, up from around 250,000 gallons of oil Friday. It's not clear how much is still escaping; an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

While BP officials registered optimism, government officials monitoring the response to the spill were more cautious, wary of drumming up promises they couldn't deliver on. BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the BBC on Sunday that he believed the cap was likely to capture "the majority, probably the vast majority" of the oil gushing from the well. The gradual increase in the amount being captured is deliberate, in an effort to prevent water from getting inside and forming a frozen slush that foiled a previous containment attempt."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flo...,7641682.story

[ricki]

"In Florida Keys, Residents Plan Their Own Spill Cleanup
By Nathan Thornburgh / Key West Monday, Jun. 14, 2010

A small island in the middle of a big ocean, Key West has always made a virtue of its isolation. In 1982, for example, an onerous Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Route 1, which links the Keys to mainland Florida, resulted in the island's declaring itself the autonomous Conch Republic. This was, of course, mostly a joke ("We Seceded Where Others Failed" was its e pluribus unum), but the mayor's declaration of independence did include a twinge of real anger and a vow that "we have no intention of suffering in the future at the hands of fools and bureaucrats."

Now, facing the possibility that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill could arrive on its reefs and beaches in the coming weeks, many in the Florida Keys are once again angry about perceived fools and bureaucrats. In particular, they've watched how BP has monopolized and, in the eyes of many, mismanaged the oil cleanup in the northern Gulf of Mexico and are frantically trying to organize an independent local response.(See pictures of the oil spill.)

"We cannot wait. We have to be prepared," says Dan Robey, whose website KeysSpill.com has gathered 4,000 volunteers, including 300 boat captains, who have offered to help before and after any potential arrival of oil. As Patrick Rice, dean of marine science and technology at Florida Keys Community College, puts it, "We will not allow the inept responses that have been happening up north to happen here."

But there's a problem with their plans for grass-roots activism: BP (and the Deepwater Horizon's Unified Command, which BP runs with the Coast Guard and other agencies) has so far insisted on complete control of the cleanup operations. A BP spokesman told TIME that the only appropriate way for interested boat captains to become involved would be to register with the Unified Command's Vessels of Opportunity program. Never mind that according to BP's numbers, only a third of the 7,200 boats "under contract" through the program are in active service. Robey says captains in the Keys haven't even been able to register. "It's a joke, a total joke," he says. "Our people have called them for over a month. They don't return phone calls."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...996441,00.html




.