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Posts Tagged ‘Oil Spill Hits Miami Likely Soon’

Well folks, it has only been a matter of time until this news headline would be real and in our face.

Ever since the Deepwater Horizon disaster started back on April 20, 2010, the weather scientists, climate scientists, marine biologists, and other ocean scientists were worried that the leaking oil would get caught up in the “Loop Current” in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and get carried far away real fast. Well, it looks like that day has arrived 2 1/2 months after it started fouling the waters.

What Is The “Loop Current?”

The Loop Current (photo credit: NOAA)

You can think of the Loop Current something like a feeder or tributary of the mighty Gulf Stream.  Like the Missouri River is to the Mississippi River.  It’s a warm current that starts flowing roughly northwest through the Yucatan Strait (the body of water between the tip of Mexico and Cuba).  It stretches for about 350 to 500 miles towards the mouth of the Mississippi.  And that is, of course, where the blown oil well is – around 500 miles NW of the Yucatan Strait.

This warm current flows to near or just south of the oil leak then turns (roughly) southeastward and goes toward the Florida Keys.  It then passes east through the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba.  (It’s also known as the Florida Current here.)  Then, out into the Atlantic to become the bonafide Gulf Stream.  And the Gulf Stream parallels the eastern seaboard until (approximately) the Outer Banks of North Carolina, then, it starts turning more northeastward towards Europe.

It Was Known Since Mid-May That This Was Coming

So, you may recall from the news that back in the middle of May, that scientists had already detected that oil had reached the Loop Current.  And back about three weeks ago in mid-June, it was reported that a “large oil plume” had reached the Loop Current, and was then truly on its way to Florida in significant quantity.  It seems now that it was definitely no “Chicken Little – The Sky Is Falling” routine.  It’s for real.

What Will Happen With The Oil?

This means that there is a high probability the oil will start showing up in Key West and shortly thereafter in Miami…AT ANY MOMENT.  Interestingly, it will be hitting the Florida Keys and Miami and HUGE swaths of the Florida Atlantic coast before it hits closer places – like the western Gulf coast of Florida (i.e. Tampa – St. Petersburg, etc.)

The Florida Oil Spill Job Outlook Due To The Loop Current Effect

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