Oil Moving Southwestward Away from Loop Current

Please see www.roffs.com/deepwaterhorizon.html for continued updates on our efforts on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Fortunately the clouds that had covered this area since this past weekend have now moved well southeastward and away from this area allowing us to see the ocean conditions in this area clearly today. We have shown the location of the remnants of the Deepwater Horizon Rig with a red “x” on the chart. We have shown the approximate location of the oil spill in translucent black on today’s analysis. The area towards the east of the main oil spill shown with a lighter tint is what we believe to be thinner oil or oil “sheen” which was visible in last evening’s and this morning’s visible (RGB and ocean color/chlorophyll) imagery, as well as, infrared sea surface temperature imagery. Please note that of importance today is that the clockwise rotating eddy centered near 89°25’W & 27°37’N now appears to be controlling the flow in the area of the oil spill. We now believe that this feature will work in conjunction with the currents to the west of the eddy north of the Loop Current (centered near 87°05’W & 28°00’N) to pull the majority of the oil associated with the oil spill to the southwest along approximately 88°00’W and not southeastward into the Loop Current and towards Florida as many had thought earlier.

Today, we continue to follow the position of the Loop Current and the location of five eddies (centered near 87°05’W & 28°00’N, 87°02’W & 29°20’N, 89°25’W & 27°37’N, 90°55’W & 27°15’N, and 88°25’W & 26°53’N). As stated earlier, it now appears as if the dominant feature in this area is the large clockwise rotating eddy feature centered near 89°25’W & 27°37’N south of South Pass, Louisiana. Today, it appears as if this feature continues to pull two 5-10 mile wide bands of oil southwestward towards the southeastern side of this eddy and away from the Loop Current. The southwestern tips of these bands of oil were observed near 88°01’W & 27°58’N and 88°06’W & 28°06’N in this morning’s infrared sea surface temperature imagery. It also appears as if a third five to ten mile wide band of oil is getting pulled towards the east (northeast of the main spill) along approximately 29°15’N and towards the eddy centered near 87°02’W & 29°20’N (De Soto Canyon area), but it remains to be seen how long this trend will continue as the present winds are light and the majority of the currents in and around the vicinity of the rig location now appear to be towards the southwest and appear to be controlled by the large clockwise rotating eddy feature south of South Pass, Louisiana.

We will continue to monitor the situation and update our analyses of the current ocean conditions on a daily basis when possible. View the latest alert and maps from Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. at www.roffs.com/deepwaterhorizon.html or contact ROFFS™ at (800) 677-7633 or via email at fish7@roffs.com.