WARNING! Hurricane + Oilspill = Worse Than Katrina!

If a hurricane encounters the oil slick now covering parts of the Gulf of Mexico, the result could be devastating, scientists say. Not only could any hurricane increase the damage that oil does to coastal wetlands, but the presence of oil could lead to a more powerful hurricane, they say. Nobody knows for sure, though, because there's no record of a hurricane ever crossing paths with a large oil spill.

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1, and forecasters expect it to be busier than usual. Meanwhile, oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico from the site where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 and sank two days later in 5,000 feet of water.

"You have this black surface, and it's doing two things," Emanuel says. "First of all it's absorbing sunlight. And secondly, it is curtailing evaporation from the Gulf." Evaporation normally helps cool the Gulf waters, Emanuel says. "So theoretically, the Gulf underneath this oil slick should be getting hotter than it normally would be." And hotter water helps create more powerful hurricanes. It's hard to know if the water is actually getting hotter, though, because oil prevents satellites from taking accurate temperature readings.

Ok so we have been having strong hurricanes recently i cant imagine how strong they will be once it hits the oil spill!

Impact On The Environment










environmental scientists are already predicting that oil from the spill will damage the vegetation in coastal marshes. And the damage could be worse if a hurricane pushed oil deep into a wetland, or into currents that would carry it down Florida's west coast.

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1, and scientists are predicting 15 named storms and eight full-blown hurricanes

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What do you think ATS?



[edit on 27-5-2010 by pavelivanov22]

I just cant imagine what this will look like! Hopefully things will get cleared up even a little bit, something like this will defiantly have in impact on the environment and economy!

This is what happens when the government does not do its job! Hopefully it gets cleaned up!

[edit on 27-5-2010 by pavelivanov22]

I have been describing the oil + hurricane scenario on the boards here. One thing in particular worries me...benzene poisoning. It will poison the land and the water. Where will people live???

reply to post by RadicalGnostic


if it does not get cleaned up anytime soon it will make it hard for people to live there.. the environmental impact will be tremendous

What kind of impact could we expect on farm lands? Will this lead to any major food shortages?

Just more food shortages on the way, very little do we hear about good things happening.

3 days left until hurricane season officially begins.

Hurricane card is only reason why detergents should be used with this spill. Otherwise it is much wiser to let oil to go to surface where it can evaporate and be "deconstructed" by sunlight and bacterias (they need oxygen to work).
For the record: I'm not friend of dispersant usage and I'm pretty sure that BP uses dispersant just for PR (not so much oil on the surface, but HUGE pockets of crude underwater).

new oil plume leak found? i read a thread but if so not getting any better