NOAA updates on oil industry's Gulf response

One of the latest updates on the oil industry's activities in the Gulf of Mexico has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the US department of commerce.

With Hurricane Alex causing difficulties for the oil industry workers tackling the Deepwater Horizon leak in recent days, NOAA has been looking into the Loop Current, which carries water up the eastern coastline of the US.

According to the NOAA, oil has not yet entered the Loop Current, with the work intended to provide authorities in Florida with an early-warning system in case sensitive ecosystems in the state do become threatened.

Michelle Wood, director of the ocean chemistry division of the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, says: "Our historical data and newer information will help evaluate any impact in the future."

The two-week survey of the region began on July 1st as the NOAA ship Nancy Foster arrived in the area, one of six NOAA-owned ships supporting the efforts to tackle the leak.