Visualizing the BP Oil Disaster

Somebody posted this on Facebook and I thought some members might find it interesting. Puts the size of the spill into better perspective...Visualizing the BP Oil Disaster

[The Poet]

That is a very interesting, and very scary, link. Thanks for posting it.


However, and not to be a prick about it (though why should I stop being one now?), another way to "visualize" the spill is to equate it to U.S. consumption of oil. To date, the entire total of this spill, as massive and horrid as it is, is about one hour's worth of energy.

Anybody wanna buy an SUV?

[mithrilG60]

What no one seems to want to talk about is the fast that this is a sour well. Sour wells produce significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide + sea water equals sulfric acid. The oil is no the environment issue, it's realtively easy to clean up once the well is capped, there is no remediation possible for the acid..... you just have to let it dilute out.

[thebayratt]

YEAH!!! Its right at my front door step!!
The town in the dead middle top of it is Pascagoula.... maybe thats why I can't spend the summer ar the Islands.....

[Col. Kurtz]

Originally Posted by The Poet

However, and not to be a prick about it (though why should I stop being one now?),

[bvilchez]

Needs to be dealt with swiftly before it reaches Cuba and it affects their crops!!!

Sulfuric Acid = LOTS of dead sea life, and the reefs that get even a hint of it are GONE. I am seriously afraid that the Gulf will be a dead zone in a short order of time. My in-laws just took a trip to the Keys to "say goodbye" to the diving and snorkeling that they knew. They are conviced that the reefs there will be gone soon. If they are killed off, it will take a very long time for them to regenerate.

[shilala]

That stretches past my house to the east, and past my girlfriend's house to the west. That's 148 miles, or about two and a half hours.
I don't watch the news, ever. I have been following this story. It really honestly makes me sick to think of all the people's lives who are done. To think they all weathered Katrina to get treated with this is just too much.
The Gulf is my favorite place in the world. It makes me wonder what's next?

[kaisersozei]

Before I post this, let me start by saying that I lived in New Orleans for years, fished the Gulf, vacationed regularly in the Pensacola/Mobile area--still have friends there, and I honestly feel for what they are facing.

Having said that...

The Gulf is a big body of water. Really big. As big and as bad as this spill is, how much of the Gulf will it really impact? Based on this link, it looks like under 10% is being directly touched by the oil. Impact on coastal waters is going to be greater, maybe 25% of the US Gulf Coast? But this is just showing how far the oil spill stretches--the oil is still mixed with water, and there's a lot more water out there than oil. Not even sure how to calculate the dilution factor. The graphic and news media would lead you to believe that the whole coast line is getting painted with oil, and it extends from surface to floor like some big, black blob.

Again, I'm not insensitive to the plight of those who live and work in the affected areas. I'm just wondering how much of the doom-and-gloom/end of the world rhetoric is justified, and how much of it is because... well, bad news sells. Just trying to get a perspective.

[macpappy]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Before I post this, let me start by saying that I lived in New Orleans for years, fished the Gulf, vacationed regularly in the Pensacola/Mobile area--still have friends there, and I honestly feel for what they are facing.

Having said that...

The Gulf is a big body of water. Really big. As big and as bad as this spill is, how much of the Gulf will it really impact? Based on this link, it looks like under 10% is being directly touched by the oil. Impact on coastal waters is going to be greater, maybe 25% of the US Gulf Coast? But this is just showing how far the oil spill stretches--the oil is still mixed with water, and there's a lot more water out there than oil. Not even sure how to calculate the dilution factor. The graphic and news media would lead you to believe that the whole coast line is getting painted with oil, and it extends from surface to floor like some big, black blob.

Again, I'm not insensitive to the plight of those who live and work in the affected areas. I'm just wondering how much of the doom-and-gloom/end of the world rhetoric is justified, and how much of it is because... well, bad news sells. Just trying to get a perspective.

You have some very good points especially about the media blowing this out of proportion to what is going to happen to the coastline east of Louisiana. Frankly, by the time that any of the oil actually hits the beaches of Alabama and Florida, it will have "weathered" and that means that instead of the waves of oil like that washing into the Louisiana wetlands and beaches, they will see tar balls and small blobs of it on the beaches. Oh, and weathered means the more volatile elements of the crude has evaporated/dissipated so it's not as dangerous or harmful.

What's actually happening in Louisiana is tragic because short of the accident never happening there was little that could be done to prevent the damage. They could have had all the boom in the world and every skimmer in the country down here and oil would still have reached into the sensitive wetlands. Not being a defeatist, just a realist from having spent a lot of time working on oil spill cleanup when I was in the Coast Guard.

[alwayslit]

Thanks for the map Walt. Puts it into perspective.

[Mikhail]

BP droped the soap and we are picking it up.