National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

NOAA’s Oil Spill Response 

What to Expect in South Florida
 

from the Deepwater Horizon/
 

BP Oil Spill 

Has Oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill 

Reached South Florida Yet? 

There have been no confirmed observations of oil 

from the Deepwater Horizon near South Florida. 

Monitoring presently consists of daily overflights by 

trained observers to check for oil near the Loop Current, 

and vessels searching for tar balls approaching the 

Florida Keys. 

If a significant amount of surface oil were to enter the 

Loop Current and begin to move toward the Florida 

Straits, responders would be able to see it, predict its 

movement, notify states and coastal communities, and 

help guide preparedness, response and cleanup efforts. 

Presently, oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill has 

remained mainly in the north-central Gulf of Mexico, and 

has impacted shorelines in Louisiana, Mississippi, 

Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. 

What Would the Oil 

be Like? 

Because South Florida is 

about 600 miles from the 

Deepwater Horizon 

wellhead, any oil reaching 

South Florida will have 

traveled hundreds of miles from the wellhead. During its 

passage through the dynamic 

currents of the Gulf, the oil will 

have weathered and degraded. For 

example, oil now floating in the 

north-central Gulf is a mixture of recently-released oil 

and oil that has been weathered for up to two months 

when the Gulf leak first began. 

If oil were to reach South Florida, the freshest oil 

will have spent at least 10 days to 14 days on the water 

surface. It could arrive in Florida in the form of pancakes 

of brown oil, streamers of pudding-like emulsified oil, or 

very thin sheen. As oil on the water surface ages, winds 

and waves tear it into smaller and smaller pieces, and 

evaporation and dissolution of its lighter constituents 

makes it denser and more tar-like. Ultimately, floating oil 

becomes small tar-like balls, called tar balls. 

If the oil reaches South Florida, responders in South 

Florida may see a mixture of forms of oil, however, 

they are most likely to see tar balls. The oceanographic 

processes that would transport oil also would broadly 

distribute it at sea, so it is not possible to predict just 

where the oil could go or when it could arrive. Depending 

on the age, these tar balls may be soft and gooey, 

denser and tar-like, or, if the oil has mixed with sand, 

easily crumbled. 

(continued on back) 
Responders also are likely to find tar balls predating 

this spill, which originate from other oil spills, vessel 

operations, natural oil seeps, or other causes. These older 

tar balls are likely to be denser and harder than tar balls 

from the Deepwater Horizon. 

It is unlikely that large, cohesive oil slicks will 

reach South Florida waters. Instead, on the water 

surface, expect to see floating tar balls and/or 

scattered patches of weathered oil, perhaps mixed 

with Sargassum (algae) or other floating material. 

Unless accompanied by sheen, these tar balls and oil 

patches may be hard to spot from the air. It’s likely that 

shoreline impacts will be scattered and episodic. On 

shorelines, there might be small splatters of oil and/or 

bands of soft tar balls. Shoreline oil is most likely to 

accumulate in areas where marine debris and other 

floating materials naturally collect. 

Protection and recovery 

strategies should be designed for 

this expected mixture of oil 

types. Because any oil reaching 

South Florida waters will be 

widely scattered, detection and 

on-water recovery are expected to be difficult. 

What Could Move the Oil to South Florida? 

Ocean currents in the Gulf of Mexico determine 

where the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon 

wellhead will go, and how quickly the oil will travel. The 

current that most influences whether the oil could reach 

South Florida is the Loop Current. This current flows 

west-to-east through the Gulf, first pushing up into the 

Gulf from the Caribbean Sea, then looping south and 

eastward to pass between the Florida Keys and Cuba 

(eventually merging with the Gulf Stream). It often spins 

off large eddies. 

The Loop Current, along with other Gulf currents, 

may ultimately carry weathered oil products to South 

Florida shorelines, but several steps would need to occur. 

First, either the Loop Current would need to move 

farther north to come into contact with the oil, or the oil 

would need to move farther south to meet the Loop 

Current. At present, the main slick and the Loop Current 

are separated by more than 300 miles. Second, southerly 

winds would need to blow persistently in order to push 

the oil north to Florida’s shorelines as the oil is swept by 

the Loop Current through the Florida Straits. 

Presently, some oil has entered an eddy, which is 

about 60 miles from the main slick. This oil will remain 

within the eddy, circling and weathering in the open 

waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Eddies sometimes reattach 

to the Loop Current. If this happens, the oil within the 

eddy may enter the Loop Current and be transported 

eastward. 

Learn more about NOAA’s response to the BP oil spill 

at http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon. 

To learn more about NOAA, visit http://www.noaa.gov. 

The Loop Current and an associated, clockwise-spinning eddy to the 

north as of June 22. The current trajectory for June 22 is also 

portrayed. Updated trajectories and current information is available 

at http://www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse. 

July 20, 2010