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Probability of Spilled Gulf Oil Coming to North Carolina Waters Much Reduced |
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Update prepared by Michael Voiland, Executive Director, North Carolina Sea Grant.
Any assessment herein is based on best-available information at the time of writing, July 30, 2010.
Media contact: Katie Mosher, 919/515-6069,
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This is an update to my earlier summaries on the June 9 and June 29 summits on the prospects of spilled Gulf of Mexico oil making its way to North Carolina waters.
Please go to the following links for news stories that appeared today:
The large eddy near the center of the Gulf has continued to gyre, and appears to have moved slightly west, away from the Gulf's Loop Current. As it does so, it acts to prevent oil residue from moving through the Loop Current to the Gulf Stream, and thus from being carried to South Atlantic waters. Moreover, the longer any oil spends in the eddy, the more it degrades chemically and physically. No announcement has yet been made by any entity that any submerged oil has left the Gulf via the Loop Current.
You can continue to track the Gulf eddy/Loop Current/Gulf Stream system by going to Ruoying He's website at: http://omglnx6.meas.ncsu.edu/sabgom_nfcast/index.html.
North Carolina Sea Grant has awarded He of North Carolina State University a mini-grant to expand his studies of linkages between the Loop Current and the Gulf Stream.
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