What’s the real worst case scenario for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill? What it the oil keeps gushing all summer?
The New York Times is reporting that a team of scientists has run the models, and that the results aren’t pretty. Nearly all of the simulations show oil heading into the Atlantic, and, perhaps, even making it over to Europe.
However, the group is quick to note that there are several caveats to the study, and in the end warns:
We cannot be sure that this model is very realistic. With a grid cell size of slightly less than 10 square kilometers the model can not resolve near shore processes and might underestimate the lateral exchange in the Gulf Stream system. On the other hand, models of this type have also been criticized to have still to slow currents and to much numerical diffusion. More scientific work needs to be done to have a better idea of the fate of the spilled oil.
Let’s hope we don’t end up ground testing these models.
“Oil Could Reach Atlantic Coasts” (The New York Times)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-1G_476nA&feature=player_embedded