BP's Deepwater Oil Spill - After the Storm - and Open Thread

The Oil Drum ^ | July 26, 2010 - 10:25am | Heading Out

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The “Bonnie” storm has passed, and the different vessels are not only returned to the site, but are already making progress in returning to operations. As Admiral Allen noted on Sunday

DDIII is now running the riser pipe down. They have 67 joints to complete, they've done 39 of those as of about 10:30 Central Daylight time this morning, need about five more hours to do that. They are planning to latch on to the well around midnight tonight. Development Driller II which was – had drill – was involved in drilling the backup well is returning to site and will start running their riser today.

Q4000 is inspecting the yellow pad, that is the control device that's placed subsea to operate the hydraulics. They replaced the valve on that and they plan to install it later on today and then they will begin preparations for the static kill operations.

He also noted that the pressure in the well has now risen to just over 6,900 psi, while the temperature at the BOP remains at 40 deg – suggesting no flow and that well integrity is apparent. The storm has, however, dispersed and moved the oil, and they are resurveying to find where the threats now lie.

He then gave the current anticipated time line for the kill of the well.

[Marine_Uncle]

I don't think your nuts. Just putting in a lot of time to keep an eye out on what is happening at this site. I would say this however.
When I first started to watch the undersea ROV cams, going on two months back... I keeped asking myself "where where all those shrimp coming from?". What I thought where huge colonies of shrimp most probably where very small balls of these clathrats being formed. On occasions a real shrimp or small jelly fish would get close to the camera so I assumed those quick moving white balls where some form of cretaceans.
I now suspect they where methane hydrate balls that still where small due to possible higher temps at the sea floor that are not dropping in temp a few, enough to allow them to grow in size.
So if I am right. We have been for a few months observing a slow release of mostly methane gas from the sea floor.

[DoorGunner]

>>”Have you mistaken me for your research assistant?”

NO.

I think that you are either:

1. honestly mistaken
or
2. parroting the delusional ranting of someone else
or
3. making stuff up on your own, i.e. LYING

You are the only one who can verify your credibility; by providing a link to an actual NOAA statement.

DG

[justa-hairyape]

Welcome back ! There were a lot of clathrates in the ocean near the Macondo back when it was just a full on gusher. The clathrates form in the oil/methane as it comes up. Lower pressure and lower temp. When they tried the first cap assembly, it failed due to the clathrates. So they did load up the sea with it during the gushing, but that would have all dissolved by now and it certainly would not be shooting out of the sea bed now. Will post the current updated sea floor anomaly list on this thread. Have captured a few short videos now.

The main way to tell animals from clathrates, is that the clathrates will leave a vapor trail that persists for a few seconds. Animals never leave one. Sometimes you will see a short smearing trail due to video movement rendering problems. Animals that can swim will often swim against the flow. Plankton will follow the flow. Clathrates mostly follow the current unless they are larger then a golf ball. Then they do what they want, but can be steered. Animals also sometimes have color pigments. Have seen reds and purples.

This Oil Drum thread did mention clathrates once, but in general it seems to be ignored. Someone pointed out that the white ice that appeared above the 3 ram stack leak, might have been clathrates. Funny thing was that BP blew those formations off today with a pressure hose. Note the white ice-like possible clathrate formation in the image.

Oil Drum Thread with Image Link

[justa-hairyape]

Possible Early Signs of Sea Floor Breaching at the Macondo Well Site

Wednesday morning 7/21/2010 (Oly1 4:50 AM PST) - (1 Week from Shut In) Long funnel plume found. Rising from sea floor and bending in water current. Possible source was 4 white smokers coming from floor.

Wednesday evening 7/21/2010 (Boa DeepC2 3:45 PM PST)(Oly2 3:47 PM PST) - Starting to notice up and down current movement. Has not been seen much prior to this. Kinda rare at this depth. Possible gray smokers seen. Difficult to notice due to very turbid water.

Wednesday evening 7/21/2010 (Oly1 4:00 PM PST) - Seeing more smokers, but not rising as much as first smokers. Acting as if heavier sediments are pluming upward and staying close to floor.

Wednesday evening 7/21/2010 (Oly2 11:30 PM PST) - See a small plume with a back top cap. Appears to be sediments and oil pluming up. Sediments fall and oil rises. Basically a sediment and oil physical separation process.

Thursday morning 7/22/2010 (Oly1 12:20 AM PST) - Observe two holes with heavy plumes or smoke rolling below them apparently toward the downward slope.

Thursday morning 7/22/2010 (Oly2 3:15 AM PST) - See what appear to be Dirty Methane Hydrate Ice Balls lifting from the sediments and traveling upward in distinct common vectors. They leave what appears to be a vapor trail and that gives them a rocket-like appearance . These are believed to be medium sized.

Thursday morning 7/22/2010 (Oly2 5:45 AM PST) - Begin to realize that smaller Methane Hydrate Ice Balls could be traveling more horizontal and following the water current. These also leave trails and can just disintegrate or dissolve.

Thursday afternoon 7/22/2010 (Oly2 3:30 PM PST) - Saw a small black smoker. There were also methane hydrate ice balls being ejected up and over the smoker. First time we saw them traveling up, laterally away and then back down to the sea bed.

Thursday evening 7/22/2010 (Skandi 1 6:10 PM PST) - Start to see some Methane Hydrate (Clathrate) chunks traveling around the BOP. Appear as shooting stars.

Friday afternoon 7/23/2010 (Skandi 1 3:55 PM PST) - Getting very difficult to see the BOP and Upper Stack from a distance. Even with multiple lights illuminating the area.

Friday evening 7/23/2010 (Oly2) - Finally a video posted to www.theoildrum.com documenting Clathrate ejections and smokers/plumers.Clathrate Ejections and Smokers

Saturday morning 7/24/2010 (Oly2 5:05 AM PST) - BOP almost impossible to see from a distance. Numerous Clathrate chunks look like shooting stars. Vertical currents are increasing. Very fast vertical water column movements around BOP. Saw white flashes in ground near BOP (clathrate ejection).

Sunday morning 7/25/2010 (Boa Deep C2 4:30 AM PST) - Small Clathrate ejections. These seem to be traveling primarily in the right to left current. For the first time notice skipping ston clathrates. They skip along the sea floor for a distance. Primary ejection source off to right. Made video. ROV moved away at 5:00 AM PST. Shows more at 5:20 AM PST.
Skipping Stone Small Clathrates
Vertical Small Clathrates from Silt

Sunday evening 7/25/2010 (Hos1 6:25 PM PST) - More small Skipping Stone Clathrates. Traveling through silt seafloor. Video from above.
Skipping Stone Clathrates Through Silt Seafloor.

Sunday evening 7/25/2010 (Skandi 2 9:07 PM PST)(Skandi 2 9:13 PM PST)(Skandi 2 9:44 PM PST) - Visibility getting bad. Lighted work area near BOP base. The actual BOP Base appears slightly buried with sediments and turbidity fallout. Also caught a sediment storm at BOP base.
Poor visibility at Work Area near BOP Base.
BOP Base Slightly Buried.
BOP Base Sediment storm.

Monday morning 7/26/2010 (Hos2 4:05 AM PST) - ROC tool crib got buried. Must have been due to sediment storm. Need solid walled cribs with a closed top that lifts in future. Storms getting worse.
ROV Tool Crib Buried

Monday morning 7/26/2010 (Boa Deep C2 04:25 AM PST) - Tiny Clathrate storm engulfed BOP and new panel assembly for 20 to 30 minutes. Size was smaller then golf ball. Lots of acceleration due to propulsion from methane hydrate diffusion and dissolution.
Tiny Clathrate Storm at BOP
Tiny Clathrate Storm at BOP Fast Acceleration
Tiny Clathrate Storm at BOP Vertical Flows

Note - It is entirely possible that some of these observations are normal natural processes that occur in the area, but quite a few appear to be obvious anomalies. To verify this we need to be able to have access to the high res video archives. Then we could compare the sea floor activity prior to Shut In and after Shut In.

[Marine_Uncle]

Understand. Looks like a ice storm in the sea. Yes. BP as well as the feds continue to downplay the phenomena.

[justa-hairyape]

Ignorance is bliss. My guess is BP/Obama knew this probably would happen when they capped it. They needed the leak stopped however cause the natives were getting restless. They are still hoping to kill it and just ignore all the enhanced seepage. It is a race now to get it killed before the oil makes its way to the surface of the sea floor. What they did not count on was the enhanced turbidity, coloring of the water, sediment storms, the rocket like qualities of clathrate chunks and who the heck knows what will happen tomorrow.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Way to go.

[Marine_Uncle]

I don't doubt what you say is true. Hopefully they will kill the well completely and things may simmer down. Time will tell. If the gas is being leaked from a sub upper reservoir that will slowly bleed off, then perhaps we shall see a clear sea bottom within months or so.
With that. I must hit the rack. Do both have a great upcoming day.

[SaraJohnson]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/23/98088/researchers-confirm-subsea-gulf.html

I will wait for your appology.

[DoorGunner]

Sir or Madame:

You insult me, and you insult any other Freeper who reads this. What made you think that we would accept just any old link, at face value?

1. Your link is to a "McClatchy" website. This is not a source of hard data.

2. This "story" fails to mention anything regarding:

a. a "lake"

b. that such imaginary "lake" was "thick"

c. that it was "a few feet below eye level "

d. That the "lake" was either "deep," or "wide"

3. They DID, mention NOAA; they even gave a link to that NOAA source:

http://beta.w1.noaa.gov/sciencemissions/PDFs/JAG_Data_Report_Subsurface%20Oil_Final.pdf

4. The above NOAA report (which see)does not mention a,b, c or d, either.

5. Even McClatchy, (not known as a paragon of truth) did not make the claims that you made.

6. "I will wait for your appology. (sic) Prove me wrong, and you will get one. Thus far, you have offered NO evidence, much less "proof."

DG

[DoorGunner]

>>”You are a hopless brainwashed shill...”
(Direct quote from SaraJohnson)