Gulf Oil Spill Threatens Florida Keys

Concerns are growing that the Gulf oil spill may reach the "loop current," a fast-moving spiral that winds around the Florida Keys.

Satellite images taken Saturday by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory show that the oil may have already entered the Gulf loop current, which could pull it through the Florida Keys and into South Florida, according to an analysis by Mitch Roffer, a Florida-based oceanographer who runs Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service and has tracked the spill. "I think the threat to South Florida is real and we should get ready,'' said Igor Kamenkovich, associate professor at the Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, who had not seen the images. "It's hard to predict but if it gets in the loop current, it can happen as quickly as seven to 10 days. . . . If it does happen, it is bad news for us.''

Yesterday British Petroleum succeeded in placing a mile-long tube into the broken well, enabling them to siphon off about one-fifth of the spewing oil.