BP Complaints

The BP Deepwater Horizon caught fire and sank after an explosion on April 20, 2010. The subsequent oil loss into the Gulf of Mexico is threatening the health of the Gulf and coastal ecosystems in the region. Using high resolution satellites from NOAA’s partners in Earth observations, NESDIS scientists are able to track the location of the oil plume as it is circulated throughout the Gulf due to changing wind and currents. Satellites providing data for these analyses include the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Aqua and Terra, Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT-2 SAR, Satellite Imaging Corporation’s SPOT-5, and the SAR sensor on European Space Agency’s ENVISAT.

Compiled from data produced by The College of Marine Science – USF, Ocean Circulation Group ocgweb.marine.usf.edu OCG/CMS/USF maintains a coordinated program of coastal ocean observing and modeling for the West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS). The Deepwater Horizon oil spill trajectory ensemble forecast from four different numerical models – Modeling includes a West Florida Shelf version of ROMS nested in the Navy’s operational HYCOM. We are also diagnosing model output from the Navy’s HYCOM, from NCSU’s SABGOM ROMS, and also from the NOAA RTOFS. ocg6.marine.usf.edu