[Mifsnavassy]

CNN breaking news: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/17/gul...pt=T1&iref=BN1

Did any of you catch the (two) dogs & pony show at the Congressional hearings this weekend? The CEOs of BP, Halliburton and Transocean couldn't point fingers at each other fast enough. Nobody knew nothin'. It was disgusting to watch.

Now, there are new oil plumes out there and some of that oil may have already gotten into the GOM loop current and may be headed toward the Florida Keys. What a freakin' mess.

[Riprincattiva]

I read a story in the LA Times about how the eco-system below the water's surface may be devastated by this for quite some time to come. It's a tragedy and BP, which reported a profit of $5.6 billion in just the first quarter of this year, can seem to run away from responsibility fast enough. A freakin' mess, indeed.

[DadaSeeva]

I read a story in the LA Times about how the eco-system below the water's surface may be devastated by this for quite some time to come. It's a tragedy and BP, which reported a profit of $5.6 billion in just the first quarter of this year, can seem to run away from responsibility fast enough. A freakin' mess, indeed.

Exactly, Richard. Some of my weather geek friends have been posting about this for a couple of weeks. The oil is not just on the surface, but in the water column. Think of the oil on the surface as the tip of the Titantic iceberg. A mixture of oil and metane gas emulsified in the water may be 90% of the spill and it's not visibile. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1st with most storms originating in the Caribbean and southern GOM. Nobody really knows what those storms will do when they pass over this huge pocket of oil and gas. Obviously, because of convection, some of the material will enter the storm, but what happens after that...?

[Bigroza]

Looks like it may be too late for the Florida Keys. Tar balls were found there yesterday. AP_Link

[dserbokim]

It seems they are doing everything backwards and creating a bigger mess... if only it would click in their minds to use that methane hydrate ice buildup to work for them instead of against them by using that already existing 4 inch line they inserted into that 20 inch pipe and just insert it a bit deeped (below grade maybe 500-1000 feet) and instead of drawing oil out, pump water in. This will quickly clog up that 20 inch pipe with crystals of methane hydrate ice from below so that the drill column can be sealed off at some point above it.

As for all the wildcats working for BP, if they dont start thinking outside that hermetically sealed box (with the whole world watching as their witness) even Dr Erwin Shrödinger (if he were still alive today) would be aghast - its such a high-stakes gamble for all those wildcats in the same box that its morphed into becoming like the Shrödinger Cat experiment on steroids!

[12Dvop4I]

Java! So good to see you've migrated over. Welcome.

Latest news on all this mess:

The Coast Guard had the tar balls from the Keys tested and now states they are not from the oil spill, but they don't know where they're from. Okay.
Also, the federal governmet has shut down an area of 45,728 sqaure miles to fishing (that's about 19% of the entire Gulf).
Oil is now in the GoM Loop Current, according to images from space, and is forecasted to reach the Keys in five to six days, Miami, five days later.

There is a good recap of all this information and more here.

[MilenaMKB]

Oil moves into the wetlands in Louisiana. "These are not tar balls, this is not sheen, this is heavy oil," said Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Source

[codecouponqw]

Can you imagine what it must be like for all those wildcats working for BP out in the middle of all this with evaporating crude oil volatiles filling the air from a surface area that expands outwards in all directions even beyond the horizon and with OSHA kept off the premises? I mean we're probably not talking about ppm but rather ppt (or maybe even pph) - far, far above what could be considered safe! If not wearing chemical respirators and complete skin protection to keep these vapours from soaking in through their skin and into their bloodstreams to poison these guys its only a matter of time before the results will be such that BP will no longer be able to hide it and their hermetically sealed box explodes open with the whole world observering.

Speaking of crude oil volatiles filling the air over such a large area, I wonder if NASA or ESA have considered IR satellite imaging of this region to look for infrared signatures that may determine what kind of environmental impact this is creating in terms of greenhouse gasses being released?

[baritkello]

Java, we could smell the oil where I live on the west coast of Florida, today. I thought it was something in my neighborhood, but it was all over. Kind of smelled like wet sneakers or burned tires or something. The wind was blowing directly west from the Gulf.

[Pharmaciest2007]

Don't drink the rain water! One can only imagine what gets trapped into the rain as it falls over Florida - besides avoiding drinking that rain water one can only wonder what effects it may have on the agricultural industry downwind too. Also I wonder if the filtration plants for municpal water supplies are sufficient to make contaminated water supplies safe for drinking?

[nobodyhere]

Don't drink the rain water! One can only imagine what gets trapped into the rain as it falls over Florida - besides avoiding drinking that rain water one can only wonder what effects it may have on the agricultural industry downwind too. Also I wonder if the filtration plants for municpal water supplies are sufficient to make contaminated water supplies safe for drinking?

I'm on a well. It's about 100 ft. deep, but Florida is one big limestone rock covered by sand, you know? Water percolates through pretty fast. One can only guess what the hurricanes will bring.

[thakitt]

A bit off topic... In my original text above I see 'avoiding' printed twice but when I went in to edit it I only saw it once so I did not edit, but came back. Meanwhile you quoted the above text showing only one 'avoiding' printed and yet I see two above from where you quoted, Weird. Maybe its a sign?!

---test results---

I checked the quote option and saw it printed only once there too!

[BrodiKennedy]

Oil moves into the wetlands in Louisiana. "These are not tar balls, this is not sheen, this is heavy oil," said Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Source

I'm thinking Dave might be interested in this one, especially the part about Cuba.