The Media and the Gulf of Mexico

While the Loop Current (Yucatan Chanel to Florida Straits by way of grand loop through the Gulf) is the primary flow, it has eddies and what not.

In other words even though the outflow is past Florida to the Atlantic, there's bound to be substantial mixing in the Gulf.
 
Jay Honeck said:
However -- other articles today are postulating that the tar balls they picked up may have hitched a ride on ships in the area, since the currents in the Gulf should be taking the oil spill AWAY from Texas.
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Are these from the same people that said an oil spill way out there in the Gulf wouldn't hit land in the first place? Stand by for "Oh, our models didn't consider..." :rolleyes2:

Very glad your coast is still clear!
 
Clark1961 said:
While the Loop Current (Yucatan Chanel to Florida Straits by way of grand loop through the Gulf) is the primary flow, it has eddies and what not.

In other words even though the outflow is past Florida to the Atlantic, there's bound to be substantial mixing in the Gulf.
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And lets not forget that just like winds (surface vs aloft), ocean currents can vary with depth.
 
Doggtyred said:
And lets not forget that just like winds (surface vs aloft), ocean currents can vary with depth.
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Well, the main Gulf current is clockwise, and taking the oil AWAY from Texas. How in the world a tar ball could work its way all the way to Galveston, working against that current, is (shall we say) just a little suspicious. I'd say the "It hitched a ride on a big ship" theory seems to make more sense, but I'm no hydrologist.

Regardless, I was swimming in the Gulf this evening, and it's beautiful here. In fact, after being churned up by Alex, the gulf seems to be a much nicer azure color, for whatever reason.

This pic doesn't illustrate that coloration, but I like it, anyway. Here's a pic I snapped of the USS Lexington (in Corpus Christi Bay) earlier today, on my way to my BFR:
2qmhnpc.jpg
 
If you haven't toured the Lex yet, I recommend it. It's very cool.
 
Henning said:
It's causal impact. BP Caused it which allowed CNN to scare people with it. Personally I wouldn't go within 100 miles of the GOM... it'll give you cancer and incite you to suicide....:eek:
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I guess I'm doomed I live within 100 miles of the Gulf, barely.:wink2:
 
Jay Honeck said:
I could live on the Lexington.
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Many people have.

Visiting floating museum ships like that help me to realize and appreciate more the sacrifice that those who served and continue to serve in the military made, and even gives me a slight twinge of regret that I never went down that path myself. Thanks to all of you guys who did serve, I don't know how someone like me could ever repay you guys and gals for what you did and do.
 
Maxmosbey said:
It was kind of silly here in Iowa last winter. Around Christmas, as you probably remember Jay, we got hit every night. I would watch the 10:00 weather, and Ed Wilson and Johnny Mac would be on a rampage. Things like "this is a major storm", "we've already gotten 4 inches and we expect eight more before it is over." It was like they were predicting the end of the world. "Dangerous wind chills," like everyone in Iowa doesn't have a winter coat, and doesn't go out in below zero weather every day of the week during the winter. So early every morning a tractor with a blade would come clearing our residential street and wake me up. I would go out, grab my big self propelled two stage snow blower, and go out with the rest of the neighbors to dig out. Forty five minutes max. That included the sidewalks and my next door neighbor's sidewalk.Then we would all go to work. The next night, Ed and John would be on the TV telling us that we were getting hit again. Like we are not used to snow in Iowa. After a while the big line was that it was getting really bad, no place to put the snow. Holy cow I thought. No kidding. My wife was in Las Vegas at a conference, and she was coming home at three in the afternoon one day. We got eleven inches of snow the night before. By the time two in the afternoon rolled around, I was doing 70 mph down the interstate on my way to Des Moines, no problem. The road was clear. If you are used to a certain kind of bad weather, it becomes a non-event.
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you should've driven north. We got over a foot of snow in Estherville just on christmas eve. There was no going anywhere Christmas day.
 
tonycondon said:
you should've driven north. We got over a foot of snow in Estherville just on christmas eve. There was no going anywhere Christmas day.
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We were in Port A, closing the deal on the motel down here, when that blizzard rolled through Iowa. I was glad to be on the island!

In March, after pre-positioning a bunch of our cars to Texas, we drove a rental car back to Iowa through the last blizzard of the winter. In fact, we spent the night in Oklahoma City -- where the Weather Channel's Jim Cantori (sp?) was breathlessly "reporting LIVE from the blizzard".

You know you're in the WRONG place, at the wrong time, when Jim Cantori is there. :yikes:

I am extremely hopeful that we will never see snow again...
 
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