BP Oil Spill Heading for New York, Simulation Finds
PCMAG.com
Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) have created a simulation of the effects of the BP Gulf oil disaster 360 days after the spill, in order to help guide research and recovery efforts. The simulation assumes that the spill is capped by September 17, and that it has been spewing 50,000 barrels per day. (BP claims that the relief well will be completed sometime in August.)
The video shows the mass of oil pooling in the Gulf of Mexico, then entering the Gulf Stream and moving into the Atlantic. According to the simulation, oil particles will reach the northern Florida, the Carolinas, and Georgia by October 2010. 360 days out, the Gulf appears to be totally inundated, while feeding a growing pool of oil in the northwest Atlantic. Some strongly-diluted oil will have reached Europe. More details at SOEST. (from Mother Jones via Treehugger.)
It is hard to put into words how shocked I am that it took BP so long to make any substantial profess in stopping the leak. It makes you question what kind of people they have running the company. What I find hard to believe is that a multinational cooperation like BP, with over a 100 years experience in the business, couldn’t do more. The only good thing from this whole experience is that it shows we give companies like them too much credit. So sad. So many people have lost their livelihood because of this.