Seeing oil from 30,000 feet

I flew Portland to Tampa, with a layover in Houston, on July 2nd. The last half of the Houston to Tampa leg was over the northeastern Gulf. I was on the left side of the aircraft, so I couldn’t see the Deep Horizon site. At that point we may have been too far north to see it even if had I been on the right side.

But I did see oil. Lots of oil. The color made it easy to identify. This was not Delta mud. This was oil. I believe we were near the Mississippi/Alabama boarder when we crossed the coastline and flew out over the Gulf. There was a vast smudge, distinct in color yet irregular and nebulous in shape. It began far out at sea and pressed in along the coast.

A while later, having begun our descent into Tampa, I again saw oil a few miles from the Florida west coast. These patches were long, narrow strips, suggesting it’s shape had been formed by the prevailing wind over the Gulf.

We landed and Cathy was there to meet me. I told her what I saw near the Florida coast and she said yeah, oil has been reported as close a three miles. None has yet come ashore along the west coast. But it’s out there, corrupting pelagic habitat.