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NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=8 summary="for page layout only" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><!-- this td tag contains the center content area of the page --><TD vAlign=top align=left><!-- this next table holds the right side column of the page --><!-- show the special dwh front page sidebar --><TABLE class=sidebar_table cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=2 summary="for page layout only" border=0 valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width=158 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell></TD></TR><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell>On board the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson
NOAA Corps Ensign Jasmine Cousins, junior officer onboard the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, provides an overview of oil spill-related ship activities in the Gulf of Mexico.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width=158 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell></TD></TR><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell>Trajectory Forecast Maps
24, 48 and 72 hour oil spill trajectory forecasts. Updated daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell>Nearshore
[ 24 Hour | 48 Hour | 72 Hour ] <!--
Offshore
[ 24 Hour | 48 Hour | 72 Hour ] -->
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width=158 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell></TD></TR><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell>Emergency Fishing Closure - Updated Daily
For current information on the oil spill-related federal fishery closure please visit the Southeast Regional Office Web site.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width=158 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell></TD></TR><TR><TD class=sidebar_cell>Gulf Marine Forecast
More Deepwater Horizon decision support information available from the National Weather Service - New Orleans.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
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As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More
GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
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Updated daily

Situation: July 3, 2010

BP Continues to Optimize Oil Recovery Rates from its Leaking Well

Under the direction of the federal government, BP continues to capture some oil and burn gas at the surface using its containment dome technique?collecting oil aboard the Discoverer Enterprise, which is linked by a fixed riser pipe to the wellhead, and flaring off additional oil and gas on the Q4000, which is connected to the choke line. The collection capacity is expected to increase to an estimated 53,000 barrels per day once the third vessel, the Helix Producer, begins bringing additional oil up through the kill line?a redundancy measure also taken at the administration?s direction.

Progress Continues in Drilling Relief Wells; Ranging Process Continues

The drilling of relief wells continues and has not been interrupted by elevated sea states. The Development Driller III has drilled the first relief well to a depth of approximately 17,400 feet below the Gulf surface. The Development Driller II has drilled the second relief well?a redundancy measure taken at the direction of the administration?to a depth of more than 13,800 feet below the surface. BP continues the ?ranging? process?which involves periodically withdrawing the drill pipe and sending an electrical signal down to determine how close they are getting to the wellbore.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Moderate NE winds on Saturday are forecast to become SE by Saturday night and continue to have a southerly component through next week with speeds from 9-14 knots. Due to the northwest movement of the slick over the past several days, the coastlines of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle west of Pensacola continue to be threatened by shoreline contacts. The Chandeleur Islands, Breton Sound, and the Mississippi Delta also continue to be threatened. To the west of the Delta, overflights on Friday observed only scattered sheens offshore west to Caillou Bay; no oil was observed offshore of Atchafalaya. However, models suggest more oil may be moved west of the Delta threatening shorelines as far west as Caillou Bay within this forecast period.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates.
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Closures

There is no change to the fisheries closure area today. The June 28 closure remains in effect. (See map.) This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The closed area represents 80,228 square miles, which is approximately 33.2 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters. This leaves more than 66 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day.
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Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 2, 2010)

The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for all on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn and skimmer fleet operations. The command's Wildlife Branch is working now to determine when, where, and how observers can be best positioned to reduce risks posed to sea turtles by oil containment and clean-up activities. In addition, the Wildlife Branch will begin to train additional sea turtle observers this weekend.

Throughout the spill, federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover. Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife are spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

A total of 598 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 2 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. (One dead and one live stranded turtle from Alabama, both oiled, and one live debilitated loggerhead recovered offshore by 
the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries). There are 147 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 47 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 115 stranded or captured turtles 
have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 598 turtles verified from April 30 to July 2, a total of 436 stranded turtles were found dead, 55 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 47 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.
The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 2, 56 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 56 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.
Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage.
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Important Contacts

  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240 .
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816 .
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816 .
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858 .
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511 .
More Information about this Incident
<!-- inline linkbox 5 -->
<!-- inline resource box 5 -->Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/dwh.php?entry_id=809

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>



As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More
GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
</AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Situation: July 4, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>HOUMA, La. -- Crews throughout the Deepwater Horizon response branches in Louisiana are checking deployed boom and surveying for additional oil deposits after heavy weather moved through the area beginning Sunday, June 27.



Heavy winds and waves have blown sand across beaches, burying oil and boom. Reports of damaged and stranded boom have been received from Plaquemines, Terrebonne, Iberia, Jefferson and Lafourche parishes. Crews are beginning a systematic effort to repair any boom that has been damaged.



Heavy waves have eroded sand along beaches exposing oil that had been buried by natural sand build-up along the coasts. Beaches in Grand Isle, Louisiana, in particular, have had sand eroded away exposing buried oil.



"There is a long-term treatment plan for Grand Isle which includes the collection and washing of oiled sand including buried oil," said Don Ballard, the operations director for the Grand Isle branch. "Part of this plan includes collecting and storing oiled sand in piles for later cleaning. At no time has clean sand been used by clean-up crews to cover or bury oil or oiled sand."

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories

Strong E winds are forecast to persist into Sunday then transition to persistent SE winds through next week with speeds of 10-15 knots. Due to the northwest movement of the slick over the past several days, the coastlines of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle west of Pensacola continue to be threatened by shoreline contacts. An overflight today to western Mississippi Sound saw light sheens near Horn and Ship Island, but no oil further to the west. With strong easterly winds, the Chandeleur Islands, Breton Sound, and the Mississippi Delta also continue to be threatened. Only scattered sheens have been observed on recent overflights to the west of the Delta ? strong westward currents will transport these sheens rapidly to the west. Models suggest more oil may be moved west of the Delta threatening shorelines as far west as Caillou Bay within this forecast period.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>NOAA Modifies Commercial and Recreational Fishing Closure in the Oil-Affected Portions of the Gulf of Mexico
All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. (See map.) The new closure measures 81,181 square miles (210,259 square kilometers) and covers about 34% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 3, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for all on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn and skimmer fleet operations. The command's Wildlife Branch is working now to determine when, where, and how observers can be best positioned to reduce risks posed to sea turtles by oil containment and clean-up activities. In addition, the Wildlife Branch will begin to train additional sea turtle observers this weekend.
Throughout the spill, federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover. Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife are spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

No turtle or dolphin strandings or rescues were reported on July 3. A total of 598 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 3 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida (One dead and one live stranded turtle from Alabama, 
both oiled, and one live debilitated loggerhead recovered offshore by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries). There are 147 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 47 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 115 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 598 turtles verified from April 30 to July 3, a total of 436 stranded turtles were found dead, 55 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 47 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 3, 56 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 56 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the 
winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066
  • .
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231
  • or 985.902.5240
  • .
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816
.

  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401 .
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816 .
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858 .
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511 .
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 5, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>MOBILE, Ala. -- Just weeks after the first Heavy Oil Recovery Device (HORD) was successfully tested in the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Alabama, the innovative devices are greatly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the cleanup operation. The HORD, originally dubbed Tarball Retrieval Device, is being manufactured at the rate of 8-10 units per day in shipyards in Pensacola, Fla., and Bayou La Batre, Ala. Up to 1,000 units are expected to be manufactured and put into service in the coming weeks.


The HORD has proven to be especially effective in collecting the thick, heavy oil that hampers traditional skimming methods. It is also able to cleanup the extremely light and difficult to remove sheen left on the water surface after skimming.


The brainchild of Capt. Gerry Matherne, the HORD exemplifies the adage ?necessity is the mother of invention.? Matherne, a supertanker captain and second generation seaman, who is under contract with BP, realized early on that something different was needed to quickly and effectively deal with the sticky, orange globs of oil (known as tarballs) floating just under the water?s surface.

?Standard skimming methods work best on fresh oil on the water?s surface. A lot of the oil we?re dealing with on the Gulf has degraded, changing from a liquid state to a peanut butter-like consistency that floats on the surface and 12 to 18 inches below the surface,? said Matherne. ?The HORD reflects creative thinking, a willingness to try new things and a can-do attitude by everyone involved with the clean-up.?



Matherne?s invention is essentially a single unit that acts as a filter, containment and disposal system rolled into one. A mesh bag held open by a 3-foot by 3-foot aluminum frame is dragged through the water by shrimp boats put into service as skimmers. The cage-like device scoops up surface oil and sheen, as well as the thick oil lurking beneath the surface of the water. 



When the bags reach their two-ton capacity, they are switched out for empty ones, loaded onto smaller boats and transported to approved oil disposal units. The bags are later decontaminated and reused. 



The total downtime for skimmers outfitted with HORDs is measured in minutes, compared to hours or days for a traditional skimmer that has to transport the captured oil to disposal units and wait to be unloaded, before returning to sea.

In addition to saving precious time, the HORD?s simple design greatly improves a boat?s maneuverability and ability to safely perform at faster speeds and in higher seas.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories

Winds are forecast to shift tonight to become more southerly, then remain from the south and east through next week with speeds of 10-18 kts. Due to the northwestward movement of the slick over the past several days, the coastlines of MS, AL, and the FL panhandle west of Pensacola continue to be threatened by shoreline contacts. For Louisiana, models show winds and currents moving oil from the source region west around the Delta and then to the north, with new shoreline oiling in the area between Barataria Bay and Caillou Bay. Further west, only scattered sheens have been observed on recent overflights; however strong westward currents will continue to transport these sheens to the west.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis.

When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>NOAA Modifies Commercial and Recreational Fishing Closure in the Oil-Affected Portions of the Gulf of Mexico All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. (See map.) The new closure measures 81,181 square miles (210,259 square kilometers) and covers about 34% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 4, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for all on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn and skimmer fleet operations.



Federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover.

Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife are spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

A total of 601 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 4 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla. (One dead in Florida, one live in Louisiana and one dead in Louisiana). There are 148 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 48 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 115 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 601 turtles verified from April 30 to July 4, a total of 438 stranded turtles were found dead, 56 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 48 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 4, 57 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 57 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-two dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>

As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 7, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Administration Launches New, Centralized, Streamlined Oil Spill Response Website

WASHINGTON?National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced the launch of a new federal web portal?RestoreTheGulf.gov?dedicated to providing the American people with clear and accessible information and resources related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and recovery.

RestoreTheGulf.gov is designed to serve as a one-stop repository for news, data and operational updates related to administration-wide efforts to stop the BP oil leak and mitigate its impact on the environment, the economy and public health?unifying web resources across the administration and increasing public access to the latest information. Read more here


NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories

Strong southeasterly winds are expected to diminish by Wednesday evening. Due to weather conditions, NOAA conducted very few overflights. The coastlines of MS, AL, and the FL panhandle west of Pensacola may continue to experience shoreline oiling. For Louisiana, models continue to show winds and currents moving oil from the MC252 well head to a region west around the Delta and then to the north, with potential new shoreline oiling in the area between Barataria Bay, LA and Caillou Bay, LA. Further west, satellite-based observations from Monday indicate possible small patches of oil south of Vermillion Bay, LA. Models indicate that oil in this region is moving westward by coastal currents and winds which will result in some continued scattered tarball impacts in Texas.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>There is no change to the fisheries closure area today. The July 4 closure remains in effect. (See map.) This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The new closure measures 81,181 sq mi (210,259 sq km) and covers about 34 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. This leaves more than 65 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 6, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles

The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn operations. Federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover. Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife is spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

A total of 601 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 5within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla.

There are 148 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 48 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 115 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30.

All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 601 turtles verified from April 30 to July 5, a total of 438 stranded turtles were found dead, 56 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 48 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

Whales

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Miss. and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

Dolphins

From April 30 to July 5, 58 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. One was verified in Mississippi on July 5. Of the 58 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-three dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>

As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 8, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Protecting Wild Dolphins During the Gulf Oil Spill

NOAA has received calls from concerned citizens to help coastal populations of bottlenose dolphins. NOAA is working closely with its state and local partners to assess and respond to distressed dolphins or dolphins found in areas affected by oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill event.

While this event presents an enormous challenge to many aquatic animals across the region, there are steps the public can do to help.
NOAA and its partners ask concerned citizens to follow these rules:

  • Report any dead, stranded, or distressed dolphins or other marine mammals to the wildlife hotline at 866-557-1401.
  • Do not push the animal back out to sea ? this delays examination and treatment, and often results in the animal re-stranding itself in worse condition.
  • Do not approach, feed, or swim with the animal.
    Stay with the animal until rescuers arrive, but use caution. Keep a safe distance from the head and tail.
  • Minimize contact with the animal (use gloves if necessary) and avoid inhaling air the animal has breathed out.
  • Keep crowds away and noise levels down to avoid causing further stress to the animal.
  • Keep dogs and other pets away from live or dead marine mammals.
  • Do not collect any parts from dead marine mammals. This is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Click here to read more



NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Winds are forecast from the SE and will decrease in magnitude by Thursday to 5-10 Knots, then become weak (<5 kts) and variable Friday and Saturday. Remote sensing imagery and overflights observations have indicated scattered areas of potential oil remaining in Chandeleur and Mississippi Sound, which will continue to threaten the coastlines of MS and AL west of Mobile Bay. Models continue to indicate winds and currents are moving oil from the source region west around the Delta and then to the north. There may be potential new shoreline oiling in the area between Barataria Bay, LA and Caillou Bay, LA. No oil has been observed west of Caillou Bay since Monday. However, models indicate that any oil in this region would be subject to rapid westward movement by strong coastal currents which could continue to result in scattered tarball impacts to Texas.
OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>There is no change to the fisheries closure area today. The July 4 closure remains in effect. (See map.) This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The new closure measures 81,181 sq mi (210,259 sq km) and covers about 34 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. This leaves more than 65 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 7, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles
The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn operations.

Federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover. Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife are spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

A total of 606 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 7 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla. There are 146 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey
and rescue operations, and 46 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 116 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 606 turtles verified from April 30 to July 7, a total of 445 stranded turtles were found dead, 54 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 46 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.
Whales

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Miss. and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

Dolphins
From April 30 to July 7, 58 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 58 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-three dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
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24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Hurricanes and the Oil Spill - Fact Sheet


National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
NOAA?s Oil Spill Response

What will happen to a hurricane that runs through
this oil slick?
? Most hurricanes span an enormous area of the
ocean (200-300 miles) ? far wider than the
current size of the spill.
? If the slick remains small in comparison to a
typical hurricane?s general environment and size,
the anticipated impact on the hurricane would
be minimal.
? The oil is not expected to appreciably affect either
the intensity or the track of a fully developed
tropical storm or hurricane.
? The oil slick would have little effect on the storm
surge or near-shore wave heights.

What will the hurricane do to the oil slick in
the Gulf?
? The high winds and seas will mix and ?weather?
the oil which can help accelerate the
biodegradation process.
? The high winds may distribute oil over a wider
area, but it is difficult to model exactly where the
oil may be transported.
? Movement of oil would depend greatly on the
track of the hurricane.
? Storms? surges may carry oil into the coastline
and inland as far as the surge reaches. Debris
resulting from the hurricane may be contaminated
by oil from the Deepwater Horizon incident, but
also from other oil releases that may occur during
the storm.
? A hurricane?s winds rotate counter-clockwise.
Thus, in VERY GENERAL TERMS:
o A hurricane passing to the west of the oil slick
could drive oil to the coast.
o A hurricane passing to the east of the slick
could drive the oil away from the coast.
o However, the details of the evolution of the
storm, the track, the wind speed, the size, the
forward motion and the intensity are all
unknowns at this point and may alter this
general statement.

Will the oil slick help or hurt a storm from
developing in the Gulf?
? Evaporation from the sea surface fuels tropical
storms and hurricanes. Over relatively calm water
(such as for a developing tropical depression or
disturbance), in theory, an oil slick could suppress
evaporation if the layer is thick enough, by not
allowing contact of the water to the air.
? With less evaporation one might assume there
would be less moisture available to fuel the
hurricane and thus reduce its strength.
? However, except for immediately near the source,
the slick is very patchy. At moderate wind speeds,
such as those found in approaching tropical
storms and hurricanes, a thin layer of oil such as
is the case with the current slick (except in very
limited areas near the well) would likely break into
pools on the surface or mix as drops in the upper
layers of the ocean. (The heaviest surface slicks,
however, could re-coalesce at the surface after the
storm passes.)
? This would allow much of the water to remain in
touch with the overlying air and greatly reduce
any effect the oil may have on evaporation.
? Therefore, the oil slick is not likely to have a
significant impact on the hurricane.
Will the hurricane pull up
the oil that is below the
surface of the Gulf?
? All of the sampling to date
shows that except near
the leaking well, the
subsurface dispersed oil is in
parts per million levels or less. The hurricane will
mix the waters of the Gulf and disperse the oil
even further.

Have we had experience in the past with
hurricanes and oil spills?
? Yes, but our experience has been primarily with oil
spills that occurred because of the storm, not
from an existing oil slick and an ongoing release
of oil from the seafloor.
? The experience from hurricanes Katrina and Rita
(2005) was that oil released during the storms
became very widely dispersed.
? Dozens of significant spills and hundreds of
smaller spills occurred from offshore facilities,
shoreside facilities, vessel sinkings, etc.

Will there be oil in the rain related to
a hurricane?
? No. Hurricanes draw water vapor from a large
area, much larger than the area covered by oil,
and rain is produced in clouds circulating
the hurricane.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=148461
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
</AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Situation: July 10, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>At the Administration?s Direction, BP Begins "Capping Stack" Procedure
After receiving approval from National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, BP began its "capping stack" procedure?designed to capture even greater quantities of oil than the current "top hat" system. Admiral Allen issued the following statement on his decision to allow BP to move forward with this strategy:



"After reviewing Bob Dudley?s response to my July 8 letter outlining BP?s proposed plan of action for oil containment efforts, and consulting top government scientists and engineers including Secretary Chu, I approved BP?s plan to simultaneously install the Helix Producer and ?capping stack? containment mechanisms, which will require temporary suspension of the current top hat containment system. I validated this plan because the capacity for oil containment when these installations are complete will be far greater than the capabilities we have achieved using current systems. In addition, favorable weather expected over the coming days will provide the working conditions necessary for these transitions to be successfully completed without delays. The transition to this new containment infrastructure could begin in the next days but will take seven to ten days to complete. I have also directed BP to provide daily briefings and regular informational updates to the media throughout this capping process."



BP also is in the process of connecting a third vessel, the Helix Producer, which will increase collection capacity to an estimated 53,000 barrels per day by bringing up additional oil up through the kill line?a redundancy measure also taken at the administration?s direction.



Throughout this response, the federal government has directed BP to develop more detailed plans, create redundancy measures in case those plans fail, and apply additional resources to the largest response to an oil spill in our nation?s history.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Winds are expected to be southwesterly to westerly at 10 kts or less throughout this forecast period. Remote sensing imagery and overflights have indicated scattered areas of potential oil remaining in Chandeleur and Mississippi Sound, which will continue to threaten the coastlines of MS and AL west of Mobile Bay, as well as within Lakes Borgne and Ponchartrain in Louisiana. To the west, models indicate that patches of oil observed off Marsh Island, Caillou Bay, and Terrebonne Bay will begin to move eastward, with scattered shoreline impacts between Caillou Bay and Southwest Pass. Further to the west, no oil has been observed west of Atchafalaya Bay since Monday. For the Alabama-Florida Panhandle coast, models show eastward coastal currents occurring over the next few days, leading to an eastward extension of forecast uncertainty bounds into Florida.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>There is no change to the fisheries closure area today. The July 4 closure remains in effect. (See map.) This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The new closure measures 81,181 sq mi (210,259 sq km) and covers about 34 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. This leaves more than 65 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 9, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles
A total of 631 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 9 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla. Eleven live sea turtles, four oiled turtles from the waters off Florida and 6 oiled and one unoiled from the waters off Louisiana, were captured in directed, on water surveys by members of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. In addition, one live oiled turtle stranded off Alabama. There are 161 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 120 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 41 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 136 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 631 turtles verified from April 30 to July 9, a total of 448 stranded turtles were found dead, 56 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 41 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

Whales
The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Miss. and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

Dolphins
From April 30 to July 9, 61 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 61 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-three dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.
Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
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24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>



As the nation?s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. More

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 11, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Largest Oil Spill Response Continues; Skimmers Mass at Well Site
NEW ORLEANS--The Unified Area Command announced Sunday that the skimmer fleet supporting the Deepwater Horizon Response Operations doubled the volume of oil skimmed near the well site Saturday.

The skimming armada capitalized on good weather conditions and surged to the site to confront the anticipated increased oil flow from the current operation to remove the top cap and install the capping stack. The skimmers were able to skim an estimated 25,500 barrels of oily water Saturday, doubling the amount collected the previous day.

"As BP transitions to the new cap, we have massed our best skimming forces at the source of the oil, 40 miles offshore,? said Rear Adm. James Watson, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon Response. "The skimmers join a total force of 65 vessels that are supporting an effort to kill the well and collect the oil offshore before it hits the beaches and marshes. This represents the world's largest collection of skimmers located in one area. These are a very important few days and we will continue to work around the clock and use everything at our disposal to mitigate the oil's impacts."

Currently 46 skimmers are operating at the well site, where crews continue to work around the clock to place a new capping stack on the blowout preventer to contain the oil. The skimmer force working at the well site is part of the fleet of more than 570 skimmers conducting the largest oil spill response in U.S. history.

Controlled burn task forces operating in a wider band around the source were able to conduct 15 controlled burns Saturday, further assisting the skimmer fleet and the Q4000 containment vessel in mitigating the additional flow from subsea operations.

The Helix Producer is expected to begin operations Sunday.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S.

Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Winds are expected to be mostly southwesterly to westerly at 10 knots or less throughout this forecast period. Remote sensing imagery and overflights have indicated scattered areas of potential oil remaining in northern Chandeleur and Mississippi Sound, which will continue to threaten the coastlines of Mississippi and Alabama. For the Alabama-Florida Panhandle coast, models show eastward coastal currents occurring over the next few days, leading to an eastward extension of forecast uncertainty bounds into Florida. To the west, models indicate that patches of oil observed off Marsh Island, Caillou Bay, and Terrebonne Bay will begin to move eastward, with scattered shoreline impacts between Atchafalaya Bay and Southwest Pass. Further west, a patch of floating oil observed between Galveston and Sabine Pass is projected to move eastward, threatening the shoreline around the Texas-Louisiana border.
OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>There is no change to the fisheries closure area today. The July 4 closure remains in effect. (See map.) This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The new closure measures 81,181 sq mi (210,259 sq km) and covers about 34 percent of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. This leaves more than 65 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 10, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 643 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 10 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Ten live oiled turtles were captured in directed on 
water surveys by members of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. Nine were captured off Venice, Louisiana, and one off Destin, Florida. Two dead turtles stranded, one in Alabama and an oiled turtle in Louisiana. There are 171 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 130 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 41 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 147 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 643 turtles verified from April 30 to July 10, a total of 450 stranded turtles were found dead, 56 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 41 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.



The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.



From April 30 to July 10, 62 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 62 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-seven dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.


A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 13, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
SW winds are forecast to continue at 10-13 knots through Tuesday, then become W at less than 10 knots. Remote sensing imagery and overflights have indicated only scattered areas of potential oil remaining in northern Chandeleur and Mississippi Sound; any remaining oil in this region will be moved eastward, continuing to threaten the coastlines of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, east to Pensacola. Imagery and overflights also indicate little oil remaining offshore west of the Delta, however, with prevailing southwesterly winds, shorelines from Atchafalaya Bay to Southwest pass continue to be threatened by scattered tarball impacts.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The closure announced yesterday has been modified today, July 13, 2010. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The new closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 12, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 658 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 12 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. One oiled turtle was captured in a directed on water survey by members of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. Six turtles were found to have stranded, one live in Florida, one live in Louisiana, one dead in Louisiana and three dead in Mississippi. There are 179 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 136 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 153 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 139 that are alive and 14 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 658 turtles verified from April 30 to July 12, a total of 457 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.



The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.



From April 30 to July 12, 63 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 63 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-seven dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 14, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Skimming Update
On Saturday, July 10, skimmers doubled the amount of oily water collected over the previous day. The aggressive skimmer response, with continued use of in-situ burning and dispersants, is part of a surge to take advantage of the mild weather. There are more than 580 skimmers employed in the response. A skimmer is defined as any mechanical device designed to remove oil from the surface of water without altering the water?s physical and/or chemical characteristics and has three basic components: A skimming head to separate oil from water, transfer system, and containment unit. There are many different kinds of skimmers currently employed in the oil spill response.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
SW winds are forecast to become W late Tuesday at 5-10 knots then be variable in direction for the next few days (W/NW/N). SE winds are forecast to begin late Thursday and continue through the weekend at speeds of 5-10 knots. Remote sensing imagery and overflights indicate that oil from the source is continuing to move to the south/southeast and there is very little oil remaining to the north. Imagery and overflights also indicate only several scattered sheens offshore to the west of the Delta; however, shorelines from Atchafalaya Bay to Southwest Pass continue to be threatened by scattered tarballs for the next few days.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico.

It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>There is no change today to the July 13, 2010 closure. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 13, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 660 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 13 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Two dead turtle strandings were reported, one in Florida and one in Mississippi. There are 179 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 136 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 153 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 139 that are alive and 14 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.
Of the 660 turtles verified from April 30 to July 13, a total of 459 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.



The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.



From April 30 to July 13, 63 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 63 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-seven dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.
Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily

</AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER>Situation: July 15, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Statement from National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen on Well Integrity Test
Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander:

"We're encouraged by this development, but this isn't over. Over the next several hours we will continue to collect data and work with the federal science team to analyze this information and perform additional seismic mapping runs in the hopes of gaining a better understanding on the condition of the well bore and options for temporary shut in of the well during a hurricane. It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."


NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories

Winds are forecast to be NW at 10 knots on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. A persistent period of SE winds is forecast to begin on Thursday and continue through the weekend at speeds of up to 15 knots. Remote sensing imagery and overflights indicate that oil from the source is continuing to move to the south/southeast with very little oil remaining to the north. Imagery and overflights also indicate only several scattered sheens offshore to the west of the Delta; however, shorelines from Atchafalaya Bay to Southwest pass continue to be threatened by scattered tarballs.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico.

It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 14, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 661 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 14 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. One dead turtle stranding in Alabama was reported. There are 179 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 136 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 153 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 139 that are alive and 14 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 661 turtles verified from April 30 to July 14, a total of 460 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period.

This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 14, 63 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 63 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty-seven dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.
Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies.

Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>



GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 16, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Mobile Incident Command Post (ICP) Opens New Branch Office in Port St. Joe, Florida

The Mobile Incident Command Post (ICP) today opened a new branch office in Florida to help speed any potential response efforts along the Panhandle.

The new Port St. Joe branch office is responsible for four Florida counties ? Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, and Jefferson. This branch office will be jointly led by ICP branch directors from the Coast Guard and BP.
The three states in the Mobile area of responsibility, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida, have established strategic branch offices to respond quickly and effectively to problems that arise on the ground. Branch offices make all tactical decisions at the county level required to carry out the strategy, objectives and work assignments established by the Unified Command at ICP Mobile and published in the Incident Action Plan. The creation of branch offices at the county level will improve overall effort at the local level, making response efforts more efficient and responsive to the needs of the communities most affected by the oil spill. The new branch office is located at 1624 Grouper Avenue, Port St. Joe, Florida, 32456; phone 251-583-1144.


NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent onshore winds (SE/S) are forecast through Sunday with speeds of 5-15 knots. Remote sensing imagery and overflights indicate that oil from the source is continuing to move to the south/southeast and there is very little oil remaining to the north. However, trajectories indicate oil from the source region may begin spreading north and west over the next few days. Observed floating oil from today's overflights and satellite analysis is not expected to landfall within the forecast period, but scattered tarballs may continue to impact previously impacted shorelines.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 15, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 668 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 15 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Four oiled turtles were captured and taken to rehabilitation as part of the directed on water operation by the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. Three dead turtle strandings were reported, one each from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. There are 187 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 144 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 156 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 142 that are alive and 14 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 668 turtles verified from April 30 to July 15, a total of 463 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 15, 65 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 65 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>



GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
</AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Situation: July 17, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>?A Whale? Operational Review Completed

NEW ORLEANS - After an extended trial period during which the supertanker skimming vessel ?A Whale? was given an opportunity to demonstrate its capability to remove oil in open seas of the Gulf of Mexico, Federal On-Scene Coordinator Admiral Paul Zukunft today announced that it will not be deployed as a part of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response.

?A Whale,? the 1,115 foot long supertanker that sailed to the United States from Lisbon, Portugal, was modified in an innovative way, and went through an extensive operational review by a multiagency team under the supervision of the U.S. Coast Guard. The report concluded that after significant effort, the amount of oil recovered was negligible, and limited oil beyond a sheen was found in the cargo tanks. Over the same 24 hour testing period, the Unified Area Command mobilized more than 590 smaller, more agile skimmers to remove more than 25,551 barrels of oil water, conducted 26 controlled burns, and recovered 12,800 barrels at the source to continue to fight the oil as far offshore as possible.

?While its stature is impressive, ?A Whale? is not ideally suited to the needs of this response,? said Admiral Zukunft. ?We appreciate the ingenuity of the TNT team to try to make this innovative system work under these unique conditions. This is the largest oil spill response in our nation?s history and we will continue to attack the oil as far offshore as possible with our fleet of hundreds of skimmers, controlled burns, and effective use of dispersant.?
Because the oil consists of relatively smaller patches and numerous ribbons spread very thinly across a great distance, the mission has required the deployment of smaller skimmers with the agility needed to maneuver and pursue oil in both crowded and open waters.

Since early June, at the direction of National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, the number of skimmers fighting oil in the Gulf has been increased more than fivefold to 593 as of today. There are currently more than total 6,800 vessels responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts?in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units. Nearly 33 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered and 387 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing an additional 11 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent onshore winds (SE/S) are forecast through Sunday with speeds of 10-15 knots. Remote sensing imagery and overflights indicate that remaining surface oil is in a northeast-southwest oriented band situated ~40 miles off the Mississippi Delta. Trajectories indicate this band will continue to spread both northward and westward over the next few days. Observed floating oil from today's overflights and satellite analysis is not expected to landfall within the forecast period but scattered tarballs may continue to impact previously impacted shorelines.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 16, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 674 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 16 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Four live oiled turtles were captured and taken to rehabilitation as part of the directed on water operation by the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. One dead oiled turtle was collected during the on-water operation in addition to a dead oil turtle that stranded in Alabama. These were reported from July 15 and 16. There are 187 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 144 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 162 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since 
verifications began on April 30. These include 146 that are alive and 16 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 674 turtles verified from April 30 to July 16, a total of 464 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi,and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 16, 65 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 65 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
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GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 18, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

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<AGL:CONTAINER>Statement by National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen On Well Integrity Test

WASHINGTON - Per my conversation with BP Executive Bob Dudley as recently as 11 a.m. EST today, nothing has changed about the joint agreement announced yesterday between BP and the US government. The ongoing well integrity test will continue until 4 p.m. EST today, with the potential for additional extensions in 24-hour increments. As a condition of the extension, the US government has required significant new monitoring and periodic evaluation and approval by our science team.
Work must continue to better understand the lower than expected pressure readings. This work centers on two plausible scenarios, depletion of oil from the reservoir and potential leakage caused by damage to the well bore or casing.

While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science. Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor.

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent onshore winds (SE/S) are forecast to continue through Monday with speeds of 10-15 knots. Easterly winds at 10-15 knots are forecast for Tuesday. Remote sensing imagery and overflights indicate that remaining surface oil is in a northeast-southwest oriented band situated ~30-40 miles off the Mississippi Delta. Trajectories indicate this band will continue to spread both northward and westward over the next few days. Observed floating oil from today's overflights and satellite analysis is not expected to landfall within the forecast period but scattered tarballs may continue to impact previously impacted shorelines.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 17, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Note: No new turtle or dolphin strandings or rescues since yesterday in the report that contains information up to July 17, at 6:00 p.m.
A total of 674 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 16 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Four live oiled turtles were captured and taken to rehabilitation as part of the directed on water operation by the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. One dead oiled turtle was collected during the on-water operation in addition to a dead oil turtle that stranded in Alabama. These were reported from July 15 and 16. There are 187 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 144 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 162 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since 
verifications began on April 30. These include 146 that are alive and 16 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 674 turtles verified from April 30 to July 16, a total of 464 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi,and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 16, 65 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 65 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.
Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
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24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
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</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
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GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
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<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 19, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>President Obama Gives an Update on the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf
This morning, the President spoke on the news from the Gulf, emphasizing that while there may be good news, the work is not done containing the leak, and will not be until the relief wells are finished and functioning. He was asked what his message for the people in the region would be:

?Well, I would expect that sometime in the next several weeks I?ll be back down. What we?re trying to do right now is to make sure that the technical folks on the ground are making the best possible decisions to shut this well down as quickly as possible, that we?re standing up the fund so that people are compensated quickly. I?m staying in touch each and every day, monitoring the progress and getting briefed by the scientists.
The key here right now is for us to make decisions based on science, based on what?s best for the people of the Gulf?not based on PR, not based on politics. And that?s part of the reason why I wanted to speak this morning, because I know that there were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, well, maybe this thing is done. We won?t be done until we actually know that we?ve killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place. We?re moving in that direction, but I don?t want us to get too far ahead of ourselves.?
Read the full press release

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent ESE and E winds are forecast to continue through Thursday with speeds of 10-20 knots. Satellite analysis and overflights indicate surface oil has moved west toward the Delta but has not yet crossed the convergence line associated with the Mississippi River outflow. Scattered streamers and tar patties were also observed to the west of the Delta. With moderately strong easterly winds in the forecast, the Delta and shorelines west to Terrebonne Bay are threatened by shoreline contacts within this forecast period. Trajectories also indicate some oil may move northward threatening the Chandeleur Islands.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 18, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 685 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 18 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Eight live oiled turtles were captured by directed on-water search teams operating as part of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. Three sea turtles were reported stranded dead, including one oiled turtle in Mississippi, and one unoiled in Florida and Mississippi. There are 195 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 152 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 171 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 154 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 685 turtles verified from April 30 to July 18, a total of 467 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 18, 66 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. One dead dolphin stranding was reported in Mississippi on Sunday, July 18. Of the 66 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was 
released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>



GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill
response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 20, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent ESE and E winds are forecast to continue through Thursday with speeds of 10-20 knots. Satellite analysis and overflights indicate surface oil has moved west toward the Delta but has not yet crossed the convergence line associated with the Mississippi River outflow. Scattered streamers and tar patties were also observed to the west of the Delta.

With moderately strong easterly winds in the forecast, the Delta and shorelines west to Terrebonne Bay are threatened by shoreline contacts within this forecast period. Trajectories also indicate some oil may move northward threatening the Chandeleur Islands.
OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.
The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 19, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 691 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 19 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Five live oiled turtles were captured by directed on-water search teams operating as part of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. Ten loggerhead sea turtle nests were moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico to the east coast of Florida and 38 hatchlings were released in Florida from nests moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Seven turtles were reported stranded dead, including two from Alabama and four from Mississippi. There are 200 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 157 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 176 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 159 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 691 turtles verified from April 30 to July 19, a total of 473 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 19, 66 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. One dead dolphin stranding was reported in Mississippi on Sunday, July 18. Of the 66 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-one dolphins were found stranded dead.

Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 21, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>NOAA Releases Data Report on Air Quality Measurements Near the Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Area

Findings are consistent with EPA, OSHA data

NOAA scientists today released a data report on air quality measurements taken in June in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill area. The report, available online, summarizes the levels of nearly 100 air pollutants measured with sophisticated air sampling instruments onboard a NOAA WP-3D research aircraft.

Scientists found common air pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, in amounts typical of urban areas in U.S. cities.

However, 15 to 70 kilometers downwind from the oil spill, concentrations of certain hydrocarbons were much higher than found in typical polluted air. Particulate matter downwind of the oil slick was comparable to concentrations in moderately polluted urban air, but the particles were almost entirely organic material, as opposed to those typically found in urban particulate matter. Scientists also measured large amounts of black carbon in smoke from a controlled burn of crude oil on the water.

?Data from the NOAA flights are providing an important detailed and independent set of air quality data to assess air quality risks of workers at sea and the public ashore,? said A. R. Ravishankara, director of the Chemical Sciences Division of NOAA?s Earth System Research Laboratory, who led the science team.
Read entire article.


NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Persistent ESE and SE winds at 10-15 knots are forecast to continue through Thursday then become NE on Friday. Overflights today indicate the surface oil is breaking up into numerous patches separated by clean water ? for the first time no surface oil was observed in the vicinity of the source. Satellite analysis and overflights indicate that the leading edge continues to move northwestward towards the Mississippi Delta. The Delta and shorelines west to Terrebonne Bay are threatened by shoreline contacts within this forecast period. Trajectories also indicate some oil may move further northward threatening the Chandeleur Islands.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 20, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 708 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 20 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Eight live oiled turtles were captured by directed on-water search teams operating as part of the Wildlife Branch of the Unified Area Command. One of those sea turtles with a smudge of oil was cleaned and released into unoiled waters. Four dead turtle strandings were reported (one each in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana). Fifty-six hatchling turtles were released in Florida from nests that were moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico. There are 207 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 164 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 184 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 167 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 708 turtles verified from April 30 to July 20, a total of 477 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 20, 66 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 66 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 22, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Statement by National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen on Tropical Storm Bonnie

"Due to the risk that Tropical Storm Bonnie poses to the safety of the nearly 2,000 people responding to the BP oil spill at the well site, many of the vessels and rigs will be preparing to move out of harm's way beginning tonight. This includes the rig drilling the relief well that will ultimately kill the well, as well as other vessels needed for containment. Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety.

As I stated earlier today, I have directed BP to continue with the well shut in procedure while the work to kill the well is temporarily suspended. I have also directed BP to take measures to ensure the vessels operating the ROV's are the last to leave, and the first to return in order to maximize monitoring of the well. Monitoring of the site during the well integrity test remains one of the government's highest priorities.

While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern. We are staging our skimming vessels and other assets in a manner that will allow us to promptly re-start oil mitigation efforts as soon as the storm passes and we can ensure the safety of our personnel."

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S.

Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.


Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Winds are forecast to be ENE on Friday at 10-15 knots, and then begin increasing as a tropical depression moves into the north central Gulf. On Saturday, winds are forecast to be E/SE at 20-30 knots then decrease on Sunday to 10-15 knots. Today?s overflights and aerial imagery indicate the surface oil is continuing to break up into numerous patches. Trajectories indicate the leading edge to the north will continue to move northwestward into Breton Sound and towards the Chandeleur Islands. Oil moving westward around the Mississippi Delta is collecting in the convergence line associated with the fresh water outflow ? this oil will continue moving westward threatening the Delta and shorelines west to Caillou Bay.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The July 13 closure remains in effect. (See map.) All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. The current closure measures 83,927 square miles (217,371 square kilometers) and covers about 35% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 21, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 709 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 21 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. One dead turtle stranding was reported in Louisiana. Nine hatchling turtles were released in Florida from nests that were 
moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico. There are 207 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 164 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 184 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 167 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.



Of the 709 turtles verified from April 30 to July 21, a total of 478 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.


The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 21, 66 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 66 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline resource box 5 --><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Current Trajectory Maps ? top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AGL /><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER>


GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- title / graphic / text block 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 23, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>Second Federal Analysis Gives Further Clues about Location and Movement of Subsurface Oil

NEW ORLEANS ? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy today released its second peer-reviewed, analytical summary report about subsurface oil monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico. The report contains preliminary data collected at 227 sampling stations extending from one to 52 kilometers from the Deepwater Horizon/BP wellhead. Data shows movement of subsurface oil is consistent with ocean currents and that concentrations continue to be more diffuse as you move away from the source of the leak. This confirms the findings of the previous report.

The report comes from the Joint Analysis Group (JAG), which is comprised of the afore mentioned agencies and was established to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the best scientific minds across the government and provide a coordinated analysis of information related to subsea monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico.

The JAG report contains data analysis of fluorometric measurements and comments on the methods used to monitor dissolved oxygen levels. Data were collected on the R/V Brooks McCall, R/V Ocean Veritas, R/V Walton Smith, NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson and NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter between May 19 and June 19, 2010. The fluorometric data provide additional information on the likely presence of sub-surface oil and its location in the water column. The report indicates that subsurface oil concentrations are highest near the wellhead and become more diffuse farther away from the source.
Read entire article.


NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S.

Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories
Winds are forecast to be ENE on Friday at 10-15 knots, and then begin increasing as a tropical depression moves into the north central Gulf. On Saturday, winds are forecast to be E/SE at 20-30 knots then decrease on Sunday to 10-15 knots. Today?s overflights and aerial imagery indicate the surface oil is continuing to break up into numerous patches. Trajectories indicate the leading edge to the north will continue to move northwestward into Breton Sound and towards the Chandeleur Islands. Oil moving westward around the Mississippi Delta is collecting in the convergence line associated with the fresh water outflow ? this oil will continue moving westward threatening the Delta and shorelines west to Caillou Bay.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico.

It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The new closure announced yesterday, July 22, continues to be in effect. NOAA re-opened 26,388 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing on Thursday. The reopening of a third of the overall closed area was announced after consultation with FDA and under a re-opening protocol agreed to by NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf states.
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 22, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 715 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 22 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. One dead turtle stranding was reported in Alabama. Twenty seven hatchling turtles were released in Florida from nests that were moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico. There are 209 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 166 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 189 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 172 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 715 turtles verified from April 30 to July 22, a total of 479 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 22, 69 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 69 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-three dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies.

Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>


<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
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24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.
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</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
Re: NOAA update on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Deepwater Horizon / BP Oil Spill Response
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GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA?) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.
The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill?s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources ? such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships ? into one customizable interactive map.
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Updated daily
Situation: July 24, 2010 </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>Admiral Allen and Administrator Lubchenco Provide an Update on Tropical Depression Bonnie and its Impact on the BP Oil Spill Response
National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen and NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco provided a briefing to inform the American public and answer questions on Tropical Depression Bonnie and its impacts on the progress of the administration-wide response to the BP oil spill. Bonnie has since been downgraded to a disorganized area of low pressure. A full transcript is available here.

Administrator Lubchenco discussed Bonnie?s expected impact on oil in the Gulf of Mexico. ?We do not expect any significant storm surge along the coast. Because Bonnie has weakened, all tropical storm warnings along the Northern Gulf Coast have been discontinued.
?We expect that Bonnie should help dissipate and weather the oil that's at the surface. It will spread the surface slick out and thereby lower oil concentrations. It's expected to break tar patches and tar mass into smaller tar balls which means faster weathering and faster natural biodegradation,? she said. ?It will also cause more natural dispersion, again lowering the concentration of oil in the water and making it more available to the natural bacteria that are in the water that do this natural biodegradation.?

Admiral Allen provided an update on pressure readings of the wellhead.
?As of last night at midnight, we had 6,891 pounds per square inch pressure. This was an increase of 14 pounds per square inch over the last 24 hour time period,? he said. ?So we continue having integrity at the well head. The pressure continues to slowly rise.?


Allen also discussed estimated timelines for resuming preparations for the static kill and relief well drilling operations once the equipment is reconnected. ?I think probably within 48 hours, they'll be able to start relaying that casing which is the final piece of pipe they have to put into the well bore, and then once that casing is in place, they will put some cement around it to hold it. While that cement is drying, within 48 hours, they will be able to begin the hydrostatic top kill putting the mud down the top of the well,? he said.

?It will probably take somewhere between five and seven days for that cement to dry and for them to be in position to be able to actually drill into the well annulus itself. So if you add all that up we're probably looking at somewhere between seven to ten days before we would be able to start the well intercept after the Development Driller III is on scene and has latched up.?

NOAA Response
NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico?s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life. NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S.

Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA?s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.
Trajectories

Winds and seas will be increasing Friday night as Tropical Storm Bonnie moves into the region. Maximum winds by late Saturday are forecast to be 30-40 knots (from the NE then SW). Winds on Sunday-Monday are forecast to be SE from 10-20 knots. Today?s overflights and aerial imagery indicate the surface oil is continuing to break up into numerous patches. Trajectories indicate the leading edge to the north will continue to move northwestward into Breton Sound and towards the Chandeleur Islands. Oil moving westward around the Mississippi Delta is collecting in the convergence line associated with the fresh water outflow ? this oil will continue moving westward threatening the Delta and shorelines west to Caillou Bay.

OR&R?s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps. The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Closures </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER>The new closure announced yesterday, July 22, continues to be in effect. NOAA re-opened 26,388 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing on Thursday. The reopening of a third of the overall closed area was announced after consultation with FDA and under a re-opening protocol agreed to by NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf states.
Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 23, 2010) </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>A total of 719 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 23 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida. Seventy-three hatchling turtles were released in Florida from nests that were moved from the northern Gulf of Mexico. There are 209 live sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 166 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 43 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 189 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. These include 172 that are alive and 17 that are dead. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil. 

Of the 719 turtles verified from April 30 to July 23, a total of 483 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase. 


The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 23, 69 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 69 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Sixty-three dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins. We are unable at this time to determine whether the three dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals. This report contains corrections based on new information. The status of one live dolphin was changed from oiled to unoiled based on further evaluation.

Assessment
 To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies.

Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the DARRP Deepwater Horizon Web page. </AGL:CONTAINER>
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<AGL:CONTAINER>Important Contacts </AGL:CONTAINER>

<AGL:CONTAINER>
  • For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Ben Sherman, John Ewald or Rachel Wilhelm or phone 301.713.3066.
  • To offer suggestions to clean, contain, recover or stop the flow of oil visit Deepwater Horizon Response Suggestions. This Web site also provides procedures and forms for Alternative Response Tool Evaluation System (ARTES) proposals.
  • For response-related inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center (JIC) at 985.902.5231 or 985.902.5240.
  • To report oil on land, or for general community information, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To report oiled or injured wildlife, please phone 866.557.1401.
  • To learn about volunteer opportunities in all areas and what training is required, please phone 866.448.5816.
  • To discuss spill related damage claims, please phone 800.440.0858.
  • BP is asking fishermen for their assistance in cleaning up the oil spill. BP is calling this the Vessel of Opportunities Program and through it, BP is looking to contract shrimp boats, oyster boats and other vessels for hire to deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more about the Vessel of Opportunity Program, fishermen should phone 281.366.5511.
More Information about this Incident </AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline photo gallery box --></AGL:CONTAINER>
<AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 1 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 2 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 3 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 4 --></AGL:CONTAINER><AGL:CONTAINER><!-- inline linkbox 5 --></AGL:CONTAINER>
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24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. </TD></TR><TR><TD>
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</AGL:CONTAINER>http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
 
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