DEMA offers Assistance Planner for Companies Affected by Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
(Dive Travel Business News - June 4, 2010) -- The April 20, 2010 explosion and oil spill on the British Petroleum Oil Drill Platform Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico has caused concern for the diving industry, specifically in regions around the Gulf.
The extent of the environmental damage is not yet known, but in anticipation of damage occurring to the coastal areas and the potential for extensive economic damages concerning the diving industry, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA) has put together an Oil Spill Assistance Planner to help dive businesses impacted by the spill to connect to contacts that can assist them. The Oil Spill Assistance Planner is available by clicking here.
DEMA has also contacted the Governors of Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi requesting federal assistance specifically for diving related businesses being impacted by the misperceptions and misinformation being disseminated in the media and for longer-term assistance due to the actual impact of the oil spill.
While businesses in the states of Missippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida are already being impacted by the spill, a new study released on June 2 and based upon computer simulations for Gulf and Atlantic Ocean currents has determined that oil from the BP oil spill is not just a Gulf of Mexico problem: The oil spill may soon be carried around Florida and up the Atlantic Coast to Cape Hatteras, NC, then out into central and north Atlantic.
The study was completed by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and was sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is managed by The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).The study is not a forecast, scientists at federally funded NCAR emphasized, but a simulation providing a range of possible scenarios of what will happen will happen in the long term. Scientists compared their study to releasing dye into water and watching it spread. See the video of the simulation here: www.youtube.com/watch
According to the report, the simulation is based upon standard models for the currents and weather in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean for the respective time of year. In total there were six computer models generated, all of which show oil entering the Atlantic and into the Gulf Stream at various time frames.
According to the simulations, although the spread of the oil is slow in the beginning, once the oil reaches well into the loop current, the speed of the oil reaches about 40 miles per day and reach Florida's east coast within weeks. The report indicates that the oil will likely reach the Atlantic in August, where it will greatly speed up to about 100 miles per day and move north as far as North Carolina. It is uncertain whether the spill will hit the Atlantic coastline and sully East Coast beaches: Much depends on the local winds and storms that will move the spill either onshore or offshore.
A member of the study team, NCAR scientist Synte Peacock said, “I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Will the oil reach Florida?’ Actually, our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet to be understood.”
For more information, or to provide additional information to DEMA about your specific concerns, contact the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association at (800) 862-DIVE (3483), Direct Line (858) 616-6408 or E-mail: info@dema.org.
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