SCOPE Study Underway
UM researchers leading study of how oil and pollutants migrate in offshore Gulf ocean currents.
Special to UM News
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (December 09, 2013) — Researchers led by the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science are in Florida’s Panhandle this week to study how oil and other pollutants migrate in the Gulf of Mexico.
For the three-week experiment, begun last week and called SCOPE – Surfzone Coastal Oil Pathways Experiment – scientists are deploying GPS-equipped drifters and other advanced instruments to track ocean currents off Ft. Walton Beach and better understand how oil may move onshore in the event of a future spill.