Saturday, June 05, 2010
Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Simulation Map (graphic: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)
Using a powerful computer model to simulate how the Deepwater Horizon spill might extend beyond the Gulf of Mexico, scientists at The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have estimated that oil could wind up on the Atlantic seaboard.
If petroleum from the broken well reaches the gulf’s fast-moving Loop Current, it could flow around the Florida peninsula and travel as far north as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. From there the current joins the Gulf Stream and could carry the oil eastward out into the Atlantic.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Will the oil reach Florida?’” said NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, who worked on the study. “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.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Ocean Currents Likely to Carry Oil Along Atlantic Coast (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)
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