A sobering picture from the Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi on the International Space Station yesterday shows the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico quite clearly in spite of clouds earlier in the day blocking NASA's polar orbiting satellite.
The picture taken apparently during a late afternoon orbit shows the thick oil slick southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River with a ribbon of moderately thick oil traversing westward south of the mouth near Southwest Pass. Gusty winds over the last several days have abated over the site helping response to the spill, however with lighter south winds actual Gulf currents should dominate over the next couple of days.
Currents in this part of the Gulf split with northern and eastern parts of the spill getting partially caught by the Florida loop current which follows the northeastern Gulf Coast and then southward across the western Florida Peninsula; near the mouth of the Mississippi a slow moving current drifts to the west at 1/2 to 1 knot per hour.
It appears that the oyster reefs south of Grand Isle may be threatened toward the latter part of the weekend as increasing southerly winds are expected to drive the western ribbon of oil northward as it also drifts westward. NOAA tonight confirmed this in their latest assessment and forecast issued around 900pm Wednesday evening.





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