In what could be an odd twist of fate, if the oil slick persists into hurricane season (which begins on June 1), and a tropical storm or hurricane happens to stumble upon it, then some scientists could finally witness a real-world experiment of their proposed weather modification technique.

Researchers such as Hugh Willoughby, the former director of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, and Kerry Emanuel, a tropical cyclone expert at MIT, have hypothesized that coating the ocean surface with an oily sheen would theoretically reduce evaporation and sap a hurricane of some of its strength.

Computer modeling experiments have not been encouraging, however, pointing out problems caused by a hurricane's strong winds. "When the winds blow at 100 knots, there really isn't an ocean surface," Willoughby told Popular Science in 2005. "It goes from water full of bubbles to air full of spray, with a smooth transition between the two."

According to the article, Willoughby "says the trick is to formulate a liquid-like substance that clings to the surface of the ocean even during violent winds. "It could be sprayed by a bunch of 100,000-ton tankers."

Perhaps this manmade disaster will allow Willoughby to prove the feasibility of his idea. It may be the only way to do so, since as CWG's Steve Tracton explained last year, NOAA has not exactly been enthusiastic about pursuing weather modification schemes, and for good reasons.