2 June 2010

Oil Slick Spreads Across Gulf- New NASA Image

Posted by Dan Satterfield

NASA MODIS image taken today June 2, 2010. Click for much larger resolution. The arrows are mine.

The latest pass from the NASA Terra Satellite shows the oil slick has spread across a huge area of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Every new image shows it spreading. Late word is that the slick is now only 9 miles from Pensacola Beach and this image bears that out.

Here is a close up of the image above:

Here is our in house model run over the Gulf for Friday. The arrows are the surface wind vectors. As you can see below, it looks like the oil will continue to be pushed northward. The actual track will be to the right of those arrows due to local currents and the Coriolis affect.

MM5 model showing clouds and wind. Valid Friday evening. Precip. is turned off so you can see the winds and the location of the oil as of Wednesday.

The summer tourism season is what keeps the small beach resorts going all year on the Coast. This is going to be a disaster for them.

NOAA has a forecast out for Friday at Noon. See below.

NOAA forecast of the oil slick for Noon Friday. Click for full resolution.

The red areas in the image above are areas where oil on the beach is expected. The black line is the likely extent of some oil.

I’ll post more info as I get it.

Dan