Loop Current May Put the Florida Keys at Greatest Risk in Oil Spill

BRADENTON-- A powerful force known as the Loop Current may decide where much of the oil spewing from an uncovered well head is deposited. Speaking to NPR's "Morning Edition", University of Miami scientist Nick Shay, said that once oil gets into the strong current it could get to "the Dry Tortugas in a week, to Cape Hatteras (N.C.) in another two weeks."

Robert Weisenberg, a professor at USF, stressed that it could take a while for oil to get into the loop current or it could happen quickly, but once it does, the oil will move fast. Weisenberg has been monitoring the spill from St. Pete, in order to access the risk of oil reaching the local shores.

"Right now that likelihood is very low," he told the same program. "I'm more concerned with the North Florida beaches than I am with the west coast.''

The Loop Current has been described as a "conveyer belt" like force that moves waters throughout the Gulf of Mexico and back into the Ocean. It originates near the site of the well and could be a major factor in the catastrophe's outcome. Models of possible routes the oil can take resemble a very slow moving hurricane. Eerily, the expanding slick seems just as unpredictable and capable of delivering comparable devastation to the coastal communities in its path.

Get the latest information on the progress of the spill:

USF College Of Marine Science Optical Oceanography Lab

NOAA

Gulf Coastal Ocean Observing System