Scientists Locate 23-Mile Long Oil Plume Off Florida's Treasure Coast

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (June 12, 2010) — A team of dedicated South Florida researchers from the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/AOML) were determined to check on whether oil was, as predicted, being pulled into the Loop Current and carried toward the Dry Tortugas.

The University of Miami's 96-foot catamaran the RV/F.G. Walton Smith had just completed a two-week National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored cruise sampling the deep submerged plumes near the Deepwater Horizon well site. NOAA/AOML offered to pay for a few additional days, but the ship which is part of the University National Laboratory System, had to return to Miami on its tight schedule. The best they could do was extend the trip home by 18 hours.

Using funding provided through CIMAS, a team was rapidly assembled that included UM and CIMAS oceanographers Tom Lee and Nelson Melo, as well as a group of scientists led by Michelle Wood, director of the NOAA/AOML's Ocean Chemistry Division. A sampling plan was pulled together using particle trajectories calculated by the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science's Coastal Shelf Modeling Group, in combination with information provided by Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecast Service (ROFFS) and remotely sensed images from UM's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS). Using these sophisticated tools, the team decided that the most likely pathway for oil to reach the Florida Keys was for it to be pulled into a counterclockwise rotating frontal eddy in the northeast corner of the Loop Current, and then south along the eastern frontal zone of the Loop Current to the Dry Tortugas.

They set out, borrowing surveying equipment from NSF scientists who were leaving the ship, including geological oceanographer Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi and Samantha Joye from the University of Georgia. As they traveled into the eddy field they saw areas of sheen, but no tar balls.

hanging course to the south, however they found an area of strong flow convergence within a southward flowing jet that resulted from flow being pulled into the eddy. Knowing that this was just the type of oceanographic feature that would concentrate any floating material, including oil, they followed it. At about the same time a U.S. Coast Guard flight that had been sent to visually survey the area spotted what they thought could be an oil slick in the area and contacted the scientists aboard the Walton Smith to have the ship get a closer look at the slick.

more

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614092604.htm

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Massive disaster...just massive

[gratuitous]

2. Oh FFS

Who are you going to believe? A bunch of yahoos on a university catamaran, or the best spin-meisters at BP? Tony Himself said that there were no oil plumes, so there! Tell your fancy-dan sophisticated equipment to process that data.

[jaxx]

3. I wonder how deep it is.

Has to be more than just on the surface.

[marmar]

4. Maybe I missed it when I read the piece, but which is the Treasure Coast?

nt

[izzybeans]

5. That would mean the plume is north of West Palm Beach in the Atlantic.

The Treasure Coast goes from Hobe to Vero (or somewhere near). But this article said Florida's southwest coast. Very confused.

On edit: Science Daily added that bit about the Treasure Coast and got the geography wrong. Original article: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/pressreleases/20100612-noaa.html

[flyarm]

8. Yep!!!!!!!! you got it!!

[flyarm]

7. The Palm beaches, St Lucie county,..and here are the rest of Treasure Coast.

Port St. Lucie
Fort Pierce
Palm City
Sebastian
Vero Beach
Stuart
Hobe Sound
Jensen Beach
Okeechobee

[nashville_brook]

11. it's only a matter of time until oil gets in the Indian River Lagoon

The Indian River Lagoon is North America’s most diverse estuary with more than 2,200 different species of animals and 2,100 species of plants.

It serves as a spawning and nursery ground for many different species of oceanic and lagoon fish and shellfish.

The lagoon also has one of the most diverse bird populations anywhere in America. Nearly 1/3 of the nation’s manatee population lives here or migrates through the Lagoon seasonally.

In addition, its ocean beaches provide one of the densest sea turtle nesting areas found in the Western Hemisphere.

The diversity of the lagoon draws millions of boaters and fishermen annually, which brings tens of millions of dollars to Florida. Red Drum, Spotted seatrout, Common snook, and the formidable Tarpon are the main gamefish sought by anglers in the lagoon system.

[blindpig]

6. The beat goes on....

When will Tony do the perp walk?

Not likely, it's Capitalism, baby.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. James Cameron is arguably one of the best underwater camera operators in the world

And he offered his services and his equipment.

Why hasn't NOAA taken him up on it?

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. The article is titled "Gulf Coast" now (not "Treasure Coast")

and refers to the "southwest coast". Did they err when they first published it?