Supercomputer simulation: Gulf of Mexico oil spill may move up EastCoast

[Brian Warkoczeski]

Supercomputer simulation: Gulf of Mexico oil spill may move up East Coast

By Larry Dignan, ZDNET

June 3, 2010

A supercomputer simulation conducted by the National Center for 
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in conjunction with the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory indicates that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is likely 
to move up the East Coast. However, officials stressed the results are a 
simulation and not a prediction.

The findings, detailed by NCAR, suggest that the Deepwater Horizon oil 
spill could extend “along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and 
open ocean as early as this summer.”

According to NCAR:

"The computer simulations indicate that, once the oil in the uppermost 
ocean has become entrained in the Gulf of Mexico’s fast-moving Loop 
Current, it is likely to reach Florida’s Atlantic coast within weeks. It 
can then move north as far as about Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with 
the Gulf Stream, before turning east. Whether the oil will be a thin 
film on the surface or mostly subsurface due to mixing in the uppermost 
region of the ocean is not known."

For the rest of the article, please see:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/supercomputer-simulation-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-may-move-up-east-coast/35394?tag=nl.e539