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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - Information Resources

We can understand that the news media’s coverage of the oil spill is causing some people concern as relates to vacationing on Siesta Key.  The fact is that Florida has almost 1200 miles of coastline and much of the media coverage tends to lump it all together, or as “Gulf Beaches” or “Florida Keys” or “Atlantic Beaches.”  When you narrow it down to the Central Gulf Coast of Florida and the Siesta Key area, we have seen NO predictions of even potential impact from the oil spill.  The nearest oil is over 500 miles away from our shores and beaches!!  The talk about the loop current pulling it down around the keys and back up the Atlantic side actually serves to keep it far away from Siesta Key.  Of the 1200 miles of coastline, Siesta Key is among the least likely to be impacted.  The following is a quote from a government website regarding the oil spill impact, “Sarasota County is not experiencing any impact from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and no impact is predicted. This unfortunate situation should not affect Sarasota’s coast. The Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau is closely monitoring the situation with the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center. Should there be any change in circumstances, we will post the information immediately. For more information on the response to the situation, go to www.DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com.”  The following is a link to a site showing the potential trajectories of the gulf stream (Drifter trajectories calculated from geostrophic currents) http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/Products/Drifters/Daily/index.html.  It demonstrates the effect of the currents actually flowing hundreds of miles to the west of Siesta Key.

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Likely areas of impact (from Dr. Jeff Masters' Blog)
Based on a study of 194 floating probes released into the Northeast Gulf of Mexico during a 1-year study in the 1990s (Figure 3), the west coast of Florida from Tampa Bay southwards to the Everglades is at minimal risk of receiving oil from surface currents. There is a "forbidden zone" off the southwest Florida coast where the shape of the coast, bottom configuration, and prevailing winds all act to create upwelling and surface currents that tend to take water away from the coast. This study implies that the greatest risk of land impacts by surface oil caught in the Loop Current is along the ocean side of the Florida Keys, and along the coast of Southeast Florida from Miami to West Palm Beach. Eddies breaking away from the Gulf Stream would also likely bring oil to northwest Cuba, the western Bahamas, and the U.S. East Coast as far north as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, though at lesser concentrations.

(Orange arrow shows the approximate location of Siesta Key)

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To assist you in your own research, we've included a number of links to websites on the subject.

Deepwater Horizon Response (The Official Site of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command)

VISIT FLORIDA.com

SarasotaFL.org

Ocean Circulation Group

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (the State's official response to the spill)