Posted on 05/14/2010 3:44:36 AM PDT by tobyhill
For a spill now nearly half the size of Exxon Valdez, the oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is pretty hard to pin down.
Satellite images show most of an estimated 4.6 million gallons of oil has pooled in a floating, shape-shifting blob off the Louisiana coast. Some has reached shore as a thin sheen, and gooey bits have washed up as far away as Alabama. But the spill is 23 days old since the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and killed 11 workers, and the thickest stuff hasn't shown up on the coast.
So, where's the oil? Where's it going to end up?
Government scientists and others tracking the spill say much of the oil is lurking just below the surface. But there seems to be no consensus on whether it will arrive in black waves, mostly dissipate into the massive Gulf or gradually settle to the ocean floor, where it could seep into the ecosystem for years.
When it comes to deepwater spills, even top experts rely on some guesswork..............
Of that recovered mixture, at least 10 percent is oil, BP and NOAA said. Smaller amounts of oil also have been collected after washing ashore, and crews have burned a negligible quantity off the surface
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Thanks, in comparison Ixtoc I was much worse.
bttt - interesting thread!
ya gotta luv em
I believe it was heavy crude, which is much different than the light sweet crude that is coming out of the Gulf.
The Heavy crude is less desirable because it takes more energy and time (and money) to refine. The light sweet crude is what everyone wants.
I like that hay idea; seems like it worked well on the very small scale demonstration they gave.
I’d still love to see us reduce our dependency on oil (not just foreign) so events like this stop happening.
This post is exactly correct folks.
Just to add, those components that are light enough to make it to the surface are typically light enough to evaporate before making it to shore.
Yep, I remember that about the beach in Galveston as well, over 30 years ago.
Thirty years ago, it wasn't seepage.
From: Historys 10 Most Famous Oil Spills
The 2-mile-deep exploratory well, Ixtoc I, blew out on June 3, 1979 in the Bay of Campeche off Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico. By the time the well was brought under control in March, 1980, an estimated 140 million gallons of oil had spilled into the bay. The Ixtoc I spill is currently #2 on the all-time list of largest oil spills of all time.
I remember going to the beach on South Padre Island. There were little tar balls all over the beach. This thick tar would stick to my feet. The hotel had packets of cleaner they gave out for free, but it really didn't work very well.
Animation of oil spill.
The beaches in LA were the same that same summer.
BTTT
Animation of oil spill.
Maybe it will all float to Cuba.
Interesting that larger spills with less clean up efforts didn't ruin the seafood industry but this one will.
Must be all the media coverage and hype will convince the fish they have actually all died.
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