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Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico
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
Updated daily
Situation: June 4, 2010
Response
The BP attempt to place the "Top Hat" last night appears successful and they have begun pumping gas and oil to the surface. There is hope that a significant portion of the flow will be captured but the amount is unknown at this time.
OR&R’s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore and offshore surface oil. Overflights are also conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories.
Onshore winds are expected to continue moving oil toward shorelines in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. More oil was reported on Grand Isle beach, along with oiled animals and debris.
Report on sea turtles and marine mammals as of 6 p.m. June 3, 2010
A total of 280 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to June 3 within the designated spill area (The designated spill area for sea turtles and marine mammals is the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla; it is based on projections of where sea turtles and marine mammals could travel after exposure to oil). The on-water turtle surveys by NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other partners have captured 24 live turtles and one dead turtle -- all heavily oiled -- in areas 20 to 40 miles offshore. The turtles' behavior was abnormal, but they were responsive All the turtles were cleaned of oil aboard the vessel, received initial veterinary care and were transported to Audubon Aquarium outside New Orleans where they are receiving further care. On water surveys are continuing. In addition to the oil observed on the 25 captured turtles, external oil was visible on three live stranded sea turtles (two caught in skimming operations) and one dead stranded turtle. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.
Of the 280 turtles verified from April 30 to June 3, a total of 234 turtles stranded dead, 21 stranded alive. Three of those subsequently died. Three live stranded turtles have been released, including two that were found in Mississippi and released after rehabilitation in Ten Thousand Islands, Fla. There are 39 turtles in rehabilitation. Turtle strandings during this time period have been higher in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama 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.
From April 30 to June 3, 30 dead dolphins have stranded within the designated spill area and one live dolphin stranded, but died on the beach. So far, one of the 31 dolphins had evidence of external oil. Because it was found on an oiled beach, we are unable at this time to determine whether the animal was covered in oil prior to its death or after its death. The other 30 dolphins have had no visible evidence of external oil. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. This may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of the earlier observed spike in strandings.
Assessment
NOAA’s Damage Assessment Remediation and Restoration Program is conducting a Natural Resource Damage Assessment. 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.
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 website 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 • top
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- IncidentNews View the most up-to-date information on OR&R's IncidentNews site. [leaves OR&R site]
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- Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center This site is providing information regarding the April 20 incident in the US Gulf of Mexico involving a Transocean drilling Rig Deep Water Horizon. The Horizon was engaged in drilling activity on behalf of BP at Mississippi Canyon Block 252, about 52 miles southeast of Venice, La. Leaves NOAA for a non-government site [leaves OR&R site]
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- Deepwater Horizon Response on Facebook This site is providing information regarding the April 20 incident in the US Gulf of Mexico involving a Transocean drilling Rig Deepwater Horizon. Leaves NOAA for a non-government site [leaves OR&R site]
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- Deepwater Horizon Response on Twitter This site is providing information regarding the April 20 incident in the US Gulf of Mexico involving a Transocean drilling Rig Deepwater Horizon. Leaves NOAA for a non-government site [leaves OR&R site]
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Current Trajectory Maps • top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily. |
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