Top Of The World....

This section for Worcestershire Weather, "Top Of The World" is a series of Climate, and Environmental issues, and Weather across the Globe which are making the news headlines, for some good or bad reason and some controversial reasons too and this is our first for Worcestershire Weather.Com.
         The Gulf Of Mexico
The picture on the left, is the explosion of the "Transocean Deepwater Horizon Rig" which sadly killed eleven people, and it has became a news maker throughout the world, not for the tragic loss of eleven people, but the fact that this has become the United States largest oil spill and the second largest in the world. BP is responsible for the rig and of course the huge oil spill and in recent days have secured the leak , but the amount of oil which escaped is truly gigantic! But put into context as someone on the radio the other day, its literally a drop in the ocean,a little like a drop of oil in an Olympic sized swimming pool! Nevertheless, our dependance of oil, is critical for our lives to carry on the way in the "developed" world we are used to, as oil is used for power and heating for our homes, cars and industry, not to mention the countless products ,such as plastics etc which needs oil as an ingredient. But oil is a "finate" resource and one day it will run out so it is vital that we do find other "power" resources ,which there are many, but perhaps not finacially viable, so perhaps thats why they are not widely used as yet, but we will have no coice ,sooner or later! So this catastrophe is likely to happen again, somewhere and at some point, untill our thirst for oil receeds or perhaps oil resources will recceed first!
     The Gulf of Mexico is a huge body of water,it has 47,500 miles of coastline which includes all the islands, an average depth of 5,299feet, and the deepest part is called the "sigsbee deep" area which is about 15,000 feet deep. It is the ninth body of water in the world. If the Gulf of Mexico was a country it would be the 7th largest economy on the planet. Its not surprising though it has white sandy beeches, a semi tropical climate, it hasdeep coral reefs,sponge beds, mangrove forests, Barrier Island and the list goes on, and it has some of the worlds richest fishing. But the Gulf of Mexico is also infamous for it Hurrricanes which can wreak havoc on land and at sea. But truly, the Gulf of Mexico is really one of the Earths gems. To learn more about this region plus the latest on the underwater oil spill ,please click onto these fascinating links...Enjoy!
http://www.thedailygreen.com/enviromental@news/latest/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill
http://www.gulfofmexicoalliance.org/pdfs/gulf_glance_1008.pdf
http://www.gulfbase.org/facts.php