BP Oil Spill Already Heading for Florida Keys?

Is the BP oil spill is already realizing one worst-case scenario? Citing computer models, satellite images & an eyewitness account, University of South Florida researchers say currents are picking up oil from the Deepwater Horizon well accident & carrying it towards the Florida Keys:

USF Oceanographer Ernst Peebles says computer models show the surface oil has been picked up by the loop current. It flows north from the Yucatan Peninsula into the Gulf, then curves east and then south into the Florida Keys.

“We saw evidence in mathematical models that the surface oil was starting to become entrained into the loop current and then there was also satellite evidence of the same thing,” Peebles said.

“And there have been scattered reports of observed oil further south, including one made by our own captain,” he said.

Scientists say that once the oil reaches the Keys, it could get caught up in the Gulf Stream & carried up the East Coast. To watch how the oil is getting picked up by the Gulf loop current, go to USF’s animation page & click play.

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For all the latest news on how the oil spill is impacting the Gulf Coast’s wildlife & to learn how you can help, visit www.nwf.org/oilspill.