Oil enters the Loop Current and is headed to the Florida Keys

[jus_the_facts]

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html



Satellite imagery today from NASA's MODIS instrument confirms that a substantial tongue of oil has moved southeast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and entered the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current. The Loop Current is an ocean current that transports warm Caribbean water through the Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico. The current flows northward into the Gulf of Mexico, then loops southeastward just south of the Florida Keys (where it is called the Florida Current), and then along the west side of the western Bahamas. Here, the waters of the Loop Current flow northward along the U.S. coast and become the Gulf Stream. Once oil gets into the Loop Current, the 1 - 2 mph speed of the current should allow the oil to travel the 500 miles to the Florida Keys in 10 - 20 days. Portions of the Loop Current flow at speed up to 4 mph, so the transport could be just 4 - 5 days. It now appears likely that the first Florida beaches to see oil from the spill will be in the Lower Florida Keys, not in the Panhandle.

[flamingdem]

1. The reefs were already under pressure, now this nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. Notice the haze over the oil spill?

That's the evaporating fraction of the oil spill, about one third of the volume will end up in the air.

Gag.

[thereismore]

5. If the syphoning works, 1/3 in the air, 1/3 on the bottom, and 1/3 in BP pockets. Not bad for BP. nt

[sixmile]

3. The coral reefs - not beaches- are the targets

The Keys isn't known for it's beaches as much as the fragile, shallow coral systems.
Looks like nature's going to take another one for the team. Cry, baby, cry...

[malaise]

6. This is heartbreaking

I can't believe this madness.

[thereismore]

4. What is the grey vertical band? Is it oil sheen or smoke or what? nt

[jus_the_facts]

7. Oil...here's another picture of it from Earth Observatory@NASA..,...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=44006

[janx]

9. Question: I noticed this below the picture--

"Sunglint—sunlight bouncing off the ocean surface and into the satellite sensor—helps illuminate the slick. A coating of oil smoothes the sea surface relative to the oil-free water, causing it to reflect light differently. In this image, the slick appears as an uneven shape of varying shades of gray-beige."

Two-thirds of the image look gray-beige to me. ?

[jus_the_facts]

11. Yes, it's HUGE.... a lot more is out there than they've admitted ...from lookin' at that view. n/t

[janx]

12. Where are you in Louisiana?

What is going on there?

[jus_the_facts]

13. I'm in North East La.... been following all the latest breaking news on twitter....

http://twitter.com/#/list/BreakingNews/gulf-oil

[janx]

14. Thanks for the link!

I check the news about this every day, but as you know, it emerges very slowly. BP has one heck of a PR team as well.

Edited to add: I love wunderground.

[jus_the_facts]

16. You're welcome!

:hi:

[janx]

17. I'm following the Twitter link now--lots of activity. n/t

[G_j]

15. it appears to be touching the Mississippi Delta

the Gulf is a huge body of water. Horrible..

[truebrit71]

8. Wow...

...just, wow...

[janx]

10. kick

.

[Xipe Totec]

18. +1

for the kick.

[janx]

19. +2

and kicking again!

[HooptieWagon]

20. The diagram is somewhat inaccurate

The loop current is a bit more westerly in location, and more paperclip or keyhole-shaped. It almost doubles back on itself. As it goes back south, it turns easterly, but is passes well south of the Lower Keys. Not until the Upper Keys does it come close to the reefs.

[cwydro]

21. Yes and my heart is breaking...

The wildlife will die, the islands will die, jobs will be gone, no tourists, no fishing, no shrimp fleet..and worse - no sweet tropical breeze, no scenic waterfront bars, no kayaking,no kite boarding, no walking on the beach, no swimming, no snorkeling, no diving, no boating, no throwing coconuts for dogs, no looking for manatees or little green herons or iguanas or roseate spoonbills or great white herons or snowy egrets or bald eagles or ospreys or any of the other beautiful creatures that make my life here a heaven on earth...God help the Keys..god help this country and this world that allows this to happen. That these oil companies who drill regularly HAVE NEVER PLANNED FOR THIS...the motherfuckers...oh fuck it all I am so angry.

[jus_the_facts]

22. 100000000000 +

[cwydro]

25. Thank you. nt

[jus_the_facts]

26. You're welcome!

:pals:

[Dr.Phool]

23. It's already there. Breaking news tonight.

Tar balls are washing up in Key West tonight.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4386063

[jus_the_facts]

24. I saw that.... this is beyond heartbreaking and mind bending....

:argh:

[Mojorabbit]

27. I just want to scream

I am so angry over this. When I am not feeling that way I want to cry.

[jus_the_facts]

28. Definitely relate....

:pals:

[flyarm]

29. a little over 2 weeks ago Tampa TV News said it had entered the Loop Current..

over 2 weeks ago!!!

and Tar balls are already in the Keys..so this is not a new Occurance..it is just part of the cover up and propaganda..the government and the Media and Bp don't want anyone to know the damn truth..they will go to extraordianry measures to keep the truth from we the people..It was 3 weeks ago Sunday that Clearwater Fla had a horrible stink in the air and then a chemical smell being driven down south by the winds..this was going on long before the Government wanted us to know!

They are all cover up specialists..and they want we the people stupid to what is really going on.

I despise every fucking one of them..the government ( MY EMPLOYEES) and the corporate criminals!

Oh and my backyard is the Gulf..i had to breathe the shitty air 3 weeks ago..and the shitty air was from Clearwater Fla down to Ft Meyers ..over a 3 hour drive away..down the coast..and Clearwater is approx. 300 miles from the gusher..

3 weeks ago we started having dead birds and fish on our pristine beaches! I know, I was documenting them and turning the info over to the local aquarium.

[flyarm]

30. oh and our government is silencing scientists! Or censoring them..what ever way you want to call it

Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up | The Seminal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/48816#

Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up
By: Jim White Tuesday May 18, 2010 6:06 am


The research vessel Pelican. (photo: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium)

On Saturday, the New York Times brought the world’s attention to the discovery by a team of researchers on the the vessel Pelican that there are large underwater plumes of oil emanating from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Remarkably, the response of the government to the attention focused on this discovery has been to tell the researchers to stop granting interviews with the press. At the same time, the blog on which the researchers had been providing updates has also fallen silent since Saturday.

Pensacola television station WEAR filed a report (video at the link) on the oil plume and broke the news about the scientists being muzzled by the government:

Over the weekend, a research crew from the University of Southern Mississippi found evidence that there are 3 to 5 plumes… About 5 miles wide, 10 miles long and 3 hundred feet in depth.

But after giving that information to the press, the lead researcher now says he has been asked by the federal government… Which funds his research… To quit giving interviews until further testing is done.

What an interesting change of course for the government. Even the government’s website on the Deepwater Horizon response had been touting the mission of the Pelican as recently as May 6:

[amborin]

31. +1

and massive WH media campaign:

WASHINGTON — In the days after an oilrig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico , the White House faced not only a looming environmental catastrophe, but also a potential public relations disaster.

Aides feared that a story line would take hold that President Barack Obama had responded too slowly to the spreading oil slick, which could damage him politically much as the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 discredited former President George W. Bush .

So as the federal government began reacting to the spreading oil, the White House message machine swung into action, too.

Within hours, it was cranking out a sustained barrage across the broad spectrum of modern media — statements, reports, e-mails, tweets, photos and videos — all punctuated by a high-profile presidential visit to the Gulf followed by an incendiary speech at the White House and a video recap with exclusive behind-the-scenes views of Obama in "West Wing Week," the White House's new online program at www.whitehouse.gov.

Whether it's Obama sitting with one reporter or a statement sent via Twitter, nothing happens by accident. The White House message machinery is a crucial element of the ever-expanding presidency, and like his recent predecessors, Obama uses it to shape public opinion, drive the mainstream media's agenda and minimize political blowback.

The White House bureaucracy devoted to managing public imagery has been growing since President Richard Nixon created the first office devoted to broad communications strategy in 1969. Obama's version uses a blend of old and new techniques and technology in an effort to cut through a polarized partisan landscape and a dizzying array of modern mass media that abbreviate attention spans and fracture public attention.

Obama's White House message machine employs more than 60 people directly, at a cost to taxpayers of at least at least $4.3 million a year.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100514/pl_mcclatchy/3505573


(along with numerous operatives shaping the discourse on the internet.......)