Gulf Oil Slick Hitches a Ride Out to Sea: Big Pics
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May 20, 2010 -- A month after the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded, a huge and growing stain of oil lingers in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
But it may not stay put for long. On Monday, NASA's Terra satellite photographed a long tendril of the slick extending out southeast toward the middle of the gulf (above). Scientists have feared for weeks that the oil could be entrained in the Gulf Loop Current. The warm, quick-moving water would carry the spill to the Florida Keys in about a week, and perhaps up the east coast as part of the Gulf Stream. The latest images appear to show the oil streaming along with the Loop Current.
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were reticent to draw conclusions about whether the oil had entered the Loop Current. As the image below shows, oil visible at the surface could be swirling into a nearby eddy of water (cooler waters, which appear purple), instead of heading on its way towards the fragile ecosystem of the Florida Straits, between Florida and Cuba.
Images: NASA Earth Observatory.
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