* So-called Loop
Current may carry oil to Florida Straits
Bonds
* Scientist sees "imminent" tie up between
oil and current
* Florida
Everglades may be spared by black tide
By Tom Brown
MIAMI, May 4
(Reuters) – Crude from the massive Gulf of
Mexico oil spill could eventually slosh ashore on Miami Beach
or North Carolina's barrier islands, if it connects with a
powerful sea current, an oceanographer said on Tuesday.
Robert Weisberg, a physical oceanographer
at the University
of South Florida, told a conference call the so-called Loop
Current that sweeps around the Gulf was poised to connect with
the spreading oil slick.
Once
"entrainment" occurs, he said, the oil would be pulled
quickly south along Florida's Gulf coast and out into the
Florida Straits, between the United States and Cuba.
"Exactly when the oil will enter the Loop
Current at the
surface is unknown but it appears to be imminent," Weisberg
said, referring to the prevailing current in the Gulf.
"It could be days or it could be longer but
it looks like
it's going to happen, and it looks like it's going to happen
now sooner than later," he said.
However, depending on local winds, Florida's southwest
beaches and the Florida Keys, along with coral reefs and the
fragile ecosystem of the Everglades, could be spared from the
oil slick, Weisberg said.
That is
because ocean circulation models show it heading
out to sea, past the Dry Tortugas islands, before it is caught
up in the Gulf Stream and makes its way up the U.S. East Coast,
he said.
"Once it's at the
entrance to the Florida Straits it's only
another week or so before it could be in the vicinity of Miami
or Palm Beach and one more week or so until it could be as far
north as Cape Hatteras," Weisberg said.
Asked about the possibility of the oil entering the Loop
Current, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the agency had no
immediate forecast of this.
"As
far as the Florida Loop Current (goes), our predictions
go to 72 hours out and right now the predictions are not (for)
an effect on Florida at this moment," she said.
Weisberg said whether or not the oil got
into shallow water
on its possible ocean journey would be totally dependent on
winds.
"Whether or not the oil
makes landfall anywhere will depend
on what the winds are doing at that particular point in time
… It's likely that there could be oil on the beaches in Miami
but we really can't say for sure right now."
(Editing by Pascal
Fletcher)
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