Gulf Oil Finds Bottom

Me Like Oil

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man...or in this case, the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. Ok evil is a strong word but ta da! the oil in the Gulf didn't just disappear, according to some intrepid marine scientists. A good portion seems to have sunk into an underwater canyon, one that happens to supply the creatures of the Florida Gulf Coast with food.

Researchers from the University of South Florida found the oil. According to CNN.com, the researchers found micro-droplets of oil scattered across the ocean floor and they also found those droplets moving up through a part of the Gulf called the DeSoto Canyon, a channel which funnels water and nutrients into the popular commercial and recreational waters along the Florida Gulf Coast.

The scientists say even though it's getting harder to see the oil the Gulf is still not safe, according to CNN.com.

"This whole concept of submerged oil and the application of dispersants in the subsurface and what are the impacts that it could have, have changed the paradigm of what an oil spill is from a 2-dimensional surface disaster to a 3-dimensional catastrophe," said David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer and one of the lead scientists on the recent USF mission.

Hollander aptly raises the spectre of catastrophe once again, a word used commonly in association with BP and the Gulf of Mexico mere weeks ago. It wasn't a spill as in don't cry over spilled milk or 'darn, I spilled the beans'. The disaster BP created in the Gulf is a catastrophe. Let's not forget that. No out of sight and out of mind on this one. And now hopefully, we'll find out more about where the roughly 25% of 5 million barrels went and how it may impact life in the Gulf of Mexico.

 P.S. What's up with relief well -- the word was mid-August it was to be completed -- how come we've heard nothing?

Photo courtesy of 2ols.com