Situation Report #7, May 5, 2010
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwater...rt7_050510.pdf
Latest NOAA Update, May 4, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/NOAA-Update
An update regarding preparations in Florida:
"Florida Deepwater Horizon Response MAY 4, 2010
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
TALLAHASSEE – The State Emergency Response Team, in support of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as the lead response agency for the state of Florida, is actively monitoring the Deepwater Horizon response.
The following is a summary of state and BP response actions to date, as well as tips for residents and visitors to take precautions both pre and post-landfall.
Landfall Predictions:
Deepwater Horizon continues to discharge an estimated 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day.
BP has completed construction of a dome, expected to be in place as early as next weekend, which will be used in an attempt to contain the oil discharge. BP has also begun drilling a relief well to eliminate the discharge.
Currently, there are no impacts to the state projected in the next 72 hours; however, Florida continues to make preparations to safeguard the state’s shoreline.
The state of Florida reminds its residents and visitors that the state’s coastline has not been impacted at this time and remains open for public enjoyment.
State Actions:
Continued at:
http://www.panhandleparade.com/index...#ixzz0n4bQV6yq
Update from the Miami Herald:
"Workers stop one of three leaks at Gulf oil spill, Posted on Wednesday, 05.05.10
BY MARIA RECIO, AUDRA BURCH, JOSEPH GOODMAN AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- As emergency workers along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday raced to defend sensitive shorelines from the massive oil spill, authorities said they'd stopped one of the leaks at the deep-water well.
It won't reduce the amount of oil flowing from BP's sunken rig, but it will allow the oil company to focus efforts on attacking the two remaining leaks, said Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosley.
``This is definitely a step toward the shut off or containment of the leak,'' Mosley said."
Continued at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/0...#ixzz0n4m6f0YD
"Oil: Experts say it's not if it'll reach the Keys, but when
By KEVIN WADLOW, Posted - Wednesday, May 05, 2010 07:28 AM EDT
The outer edges of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crept closer to the Loop Current Tuesday as Florida Keys response agencies convened to draft a battle plan.
One scientist tracking the extent of the spill cautioned South Florida "to go into hurricane mode."
"We have to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best," said Nick Shay, an oceanographer at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science who specializes in currents. "This is like a oceanic hurricane. It's already a disaster for the northern gulf."
The Loop Current flows north in the Gulf of Mexico, then loops west and south before heading to the east through the Florida Straits.
Shay said it appears "inevitable that at least some part of the oil slick is going to make it into the Loop Current, but at this point the exact concentration is uncertain."
Efforts to use a giant concrete box to catch oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon drill site, 5,000 feet below the gulf surface, were under way at press time.
If attempts to use the concrete collection domes fail and the leak continues to feed an estimated 210,000 gallons of crude oil into the gulf each day, Shay said, "This will far surpass any [environmental damage] the Exxon Valdez did."
Audubon of Florida research director Jerry Lorenz said if the oil reaches South Florida's mangrove forests, the critical ecosystems could be destroyed.
"Once it's in the mangroves, it really can't be cleaned out," Lorenz said on a conference call held by the Everglades Foundation. "It would take years, if not decades, to wash out.""
Continued at:
http://www.keysnet.com/2010/05/05/21...-the-keys.html
"Other experts say oil 'pretty unlikely' to hit Keys, Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Some scientists say the Loop Current is a moving target, one that will dodge the bullet of having oil trapped in it -- thanks also in part to weak winds and a weak feeder eddy.
The core of the Loop Current was 150 miles from the oil slick Tuesday and has begun to move south, as it does seasonally, one computer model shows.
It will be 200 to 300 miles away from the slick's location on Tuesday within the next five days, according to Eric Chassignet, director of the Center for Ocean Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University.
That makes the possibility of the slick reaching the Loop Current and bringing oil south along the Florida Coast to the Florida Keys, Florida Bay and Dry Tortugas "pretty unlikely," Chassignet said.
His prediction comes from a tried-and-true model that his agency, the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been using for the past five years, he said, adding that he is "confident" of its accuracy.
The possibility of wind blowing the slick into the Loop Current was refuted Tuesday by Doug Helton, NOAA's incident operations coordinator from the oil rig accident. He said the winds have not been strong enough in one consistent direction to push the slick to one specific area.
Even if the wind did blow it into a counterclockwise-moving eddy that was 50 miles from slick on Tuesday, that feeder current isn't strong enough to push the oil into the main Loop Current, Chassignet said.
"If it (oil) is trapped in the eddy, not much will be captured by the main Loop Current," Chassignet said.
The immediate concern for environmental damage has been and remains on the offshore islands on the northern Gulf Coast and the wetlands and estuaries of the Mississippi Delta, Helton said."
From:
http://keysnews.com/node/23026
"Gulf oil spill could 'devastate' South Florida's environment
By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel, 10:03 a.m. EDT, May 5, 2010
Few parts of the United States would be as devastated by an oil slick as the southern coast of Florida.
A necklace of federal wildlife refuges wraps around the tip of the peninsula, protecting wading birds, Key deer, American crocodiles and nesting sea turtles. The largest coral reef system in the continental United States forms an undersea rainforest of fish, crabs, sponges and coral, extending from the southern end of the Keys to the shallows off Palm Beach. The beaches from Broward County up the coast are among the most important in the world for loggerhead sea turtles, now just beginning their annual nesting season.
"A major oil spill would devastate the ecosystem and the economy based on that ecosystem," said Larry Crowder, professor of marine biology at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. "It's a particularly bad time of year because just about everything is nesting or replicating.
"In the Gulf of Mexico giant blue fin tuna are spawning, and their eggs and larvae float on the surface," he said. "Seabirds and gulls are nesting. For nesting sea turtles, obviously, oiling the beaches could have a devastating impact."
The critical question for South Florida is whether the slick spreading across the northern Gulf of Mexico will be dragged south by the Loop Current, a swift stream of water that flows from the Gulf through the Florida Straits between the Keys and Cuba, feeding into the Gulf Stream, a current that comes within a few miles of the southeast Florida beaches.
"Exactly when the oil will enter the Loop Current is unknown, but it appears to be imminent," said Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida who tracks the current. "Once it's in the Loop Current, it's only a matter of a week or so before the oil is at the entrance to the Florida Straits, and one more week in the vicinity of Miami and Palm Beach."
Continued at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flo...,6744447.story
Putting the current state of things in the area into perspective, a news video from Key Largo:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-b...-92814149.html
Will the oil spill seriously impact South Florida, the Keys, Cuba and the Bahamas? No way to know yet, it is still too soon. Preparations are underway just in case.
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