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Mystery Sheen; Off San Diego, CA

Off San Diego, CA | 2012-May-22

Initial Notification: On the evening of 22-MAY-2012, the USCG District-11 Command Center contacted their NOAA SSC to report a mystery sheen observed by a USCG helicopter offshore of San Diego, CA at 1814hrs (local time). The observation was described as a 3NM x 3NM rainbow sheen approximately 16.5NM west of Point Loma and approximately 5NM North of the US/Mexican border as depicted by the offshore EEZ boundary. A trajectory estimate was requested to establish whether the sheen might threaten Mexican waters.

Incident Details
Primary threat:Oil
Products of concern:Rainbow sheen
Latitude (approximate): 32° 43.20′ North
Longitude (approximate): 117° 35.80′ West