It’s all over the news and is causing tourists to doubt their Beach Vacation plans- the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. With the news released today that the tar balls found off the Florida Keys are not related to the rig disaster, East Coast Florida beaches are proving that they are clean and open for business!
There are several misconceptions about the oil spill and its effects that the Melbourne-based Florida Today has taken the time to answer for us. Below is an excerpt from Columnist Matt Reed’s interview with Florida Tech’s head of Marine and Environmental Systems Department Professor George Maul:
Reed: What is the potential for oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster drifting as far up the east coast as Brevard?
Maul: For our purposes, they enter through the Caribbean Sea, come in through the Yucatan Channel, through the Gulf of Mexico, out the Straits of Florida, and up the East Coast.
Just go to our beach anytime, and you’ll see sargassum there. Sargassum comes through the loop system the exact same way oil would. Sargassum starts in the Caribbean Sea, goes through the loop current, and eventually comes ashore in Brevard County because the easterly breezes push it ashore, just as they would with oil.
Reed: Sargassum … that brown seaweed?
Maul: It’s algae. People see it on the beach and don’t think anything about it. But it’s proof positive of how the system would work — if the loop current entrains the oil. That’s a big “if” at this stage.
Reed: How long would it take to get here on the loop current?
Maul: One to two weeks.
Reed: What would a beachgoer or charter captain see?
Maul: It depends. If it’s older oil — much of it having evaporated — you might have this heavier, more dense, mousse-like oil. The heavier stuff sometimes sinks, and forms globs — tar balls — and these can wash up onto the beaches. If it’s lighter oil, the stuff that makes a sheen, that’s a different case. By the time it gets to us, probably a lot of that would evaporate into the atmosphere.
Most likely we’ll see tar balls.
Courtesy of Florida Today, Matt Reed and George Maul
