It is being dispersed into oil which is lighter then water and eventually floats up to the surface in slicks.
“It is being dispersed into oil which is lighter then water and eventually floats up to the surface in slicks.”
Well, it rather depends on what the Corexit is doing to the oil. There’s a nifty site that discusses Corexit, and how it works, which might interest you.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6578
Now mind you,this site has a mix of academics and practitioners, which always leads to interesting discussions. Such conversations also tend to cut through the media driven BS that all too often clouds the reality of environmental problems. Transparency can be really refreshing.
I’ll warn you that some of this stuff will make your eyes cross, and reflects some uncerainty on the part of the tech community. That’s ok though, as knowing what we don’t know helps to target the enquiry. The particular variety of Conexit used in the Gulf is a bit light in the formulation area. It is reputed to have some strong surfactants (detergents), but that needs to be elaborated on before a real discussion can proceed on it. I’m sure the formulation will become available, but from the literature I was able to acquire, some of the contents are still proprietary.
If the surfactant effect is significant, it’s going to be putting a lot of this oil into solution, much as the cooking oils in your kitchen sink. That would tend to keep the oil away form the surface in the first place.
Like most natural/unnatural systems, the variables can confound those seeking easy answers. Be very careful about buying into simple environmental theories about the situation at an early stage. Right now, the Ludite environmental opportunists are regurgitating whatever comes into their technically feeble brains. For good or ill, accurate environmental answers are not going to come for a long time. Right now you’re seeing PC-PR spin thats only produced by organizations trying to push particular agendas that have little to do with reality. In months, or years, we’ll actually know some of the answers as to how Corexit works in this particular environment. Those who profess to know the answers at this early stage are not to be trusted, but it is interesting to pick apart their agenda driven mantras that are trying to pass off as scientific knowledge.