Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 15 May 2010
Today weather conditions prevented vessel skimming and in-situ burning operations, but overflights and SCAT teams were in the field. Sea conditions are expected to moderate over the course of the week and marine operations are expected to recommence. Also today, NOAA Fisheries announced modifications to the area closed to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico due to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill, which now will include federal waters seaward of Louisiana State waters in the vicinity of Timbalier Island, to waters off Florida’s Choctawhatchee Bay. These changes will leave more than 93 percent of the Gulf’s federal waters open for fishing, and supporting productive fisheries and tourism. NASA mobilized its remote-sensing assets to help assess the spread and impact of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill at the request of U.S. disaster response agencies. NASA has deployed its instrumented research aircraft, the Earth Resources-2 (ER-2), to the Gulf. The agency is also making extra satellite observations and conducting additional data processing to assist NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Department of Homeland Security in monitoring the spill. NOAA is sending one of its top fisheries science directors to the Gulf this week to lead its effort to rapidly assess, test, and report findings about risks posed to fish in the Gulf of Mexico by contaminants from the BP oil spill and clean-up activities.
