USF scientists up to it again

[Cetacea]

Oil Plume spreading

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/17/gulf.oil.disaster/?hpt=T2

[Soylent Brice]

1. mosque what?

what are you talking about?

[Cetacea]

4. I edited the subject. re: splinter issues as distraction

[Soylent Brice]

12. righty-o.

thx for the clarification.

[Poboy]

2. K&R!

[Poboy]

3. Scientists: Gulf oil not gone, 80 percent remains

Scientists: Gulf oil not gone, 80 percent remains
MONDAY, AUG 16, 2010 19:35 ET
Georgia researchers say the government misinterpreted data, most of the oil still lurks beneath surface

Georgia scientists say their analysis shows that most of that BP oil the government said was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is still there.

The scientists say as much as 80 percent of the oil still lurks under the surface. The Georgia team said it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved is actually gone. The report from University of Georgia and other scientists came from an analysis of federal estimates.

Earlier this month federal scientists said that only about a quarter of the oil remained and the rest was either removed, dissolved or dispersed.

http://www.salon.com/news/louisiana_oil_spill/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/08/16/gulf_spill_not_gone

[Cetacea]

5. That is a huge disparity

"75% of oil gone".

[Poboy]

9. Its magic! Clap or Tinkerbell dies. -nt

[Igel]

14. Yeah, but you have to actually see what the two reports are saying.

"Removed, dissolved or dispersed" does not mean "gone." Some was removed. Some was dissolved--no longer a lumpy threat, but not "gone" in the sense of "no longer present in any form." Same for "dispersed."

I think the reports are less different than people who want the reports to be very different think. If I dissolve sugar in water, I may explain to my kid (who's 6) that the sugar's "gone" but I'd also ask where it went and then explain that it's still present in solution. Dissolved.

When I make soap my kid sees a nice layer of oil floating on a fairly clear layer of lye. Then I stir it and ask, "Where did the oil go?" A magnifying glass shows little oil droplets (soap functions as a dispersant, of course).

He's smart enough to know that "dissolved or dispersed" doesn't mean "gone" except in a very narrow, preliminary, conversational sense of the word. If it's gone it can't be seen, at least not in the same way. Not surprisingly, this puts him far ahead of the curve for much of the MSM.

The other problem is that the one report looks at oil, petroleum; the other looks at the hydrocarbons that issued forth from the well. The word "oil" doesn't cover natural gas; "hydrocarbons" does.

The dispute about the amount that evaporated is a real one. First, there'd have to be a reliable figure for the amount of oil that reached the surface, how quickly volatile fractions evaporated (different for day and night, I'd think) given that some of the slick was broken up and sank while other portions were broken up and didn't sink and yet other portions weren't broken up. I seriously doubt there is such a figure. Second, small amounts of petroleum-based hydrocarbons would dissolve from dispersed oil as well as oil gushing towards the surface; they'd also evaporate from the water's surface after dissolving. It's not a fast process, but I don't know how fast. Rather depends on the concentrations, temperatures, and circulation of water. It'd be interesting to work out the math for some simple cases.

The Sea Grant folk also, btw, assume less oil was actually released into the water than the government report did.

As for the dispersed oil found 40 miles from Key West that "may" be from the spill, the three relevant things are: (1) Did they actually confirm this? In which case the "may" is pointless. (2) In what quantities? (3) How does that compare with what *would* have been carried there (assuming (1) is confirmed) in the absence of dispersant and biodegradation. In other words, let's not compare what is with what should be, but what is with what likely would have been.

[TheKentuckian]

7. Of course. I think the spin depends on memory degrading into fragments

or that we will happily swallow what we want to hear.

I was pretty sure the time line on oil being broken down by the microbes was in years and decades with the nasty after affect of oxygen depletion.

We know about the oil still easily found in Prince William Sound these twenty years later but still a lot of folks were happy to buy in so hard that they felt comfortable enough to mock everyone that saw the gusher as a big deal.

These motherfuckers are lying to us BP and the administration. They are trying to push business as usual and the effects be damned, they can spin it later, what is important now is to get the money flowing and get people's minds off of this epic disaster.

[Javaman]

10. In the age of INGSOC and Newspeak, the industry of propaganda has issued a new declaration...

Today comrades, 75% of the oil is gone! but alas 80% remains.

Bottoms up on the Victory gin!

[Cetacea]

13. Video footage that was reduced to stills for us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeXDki6-y-I

[Overseas]

6. K&R! //nt

[nashville_brook]

8. k n r

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Just heard on the radio that high toxicity in plankton

have been found in large quantities by Scientist south of Panama City caused by the oil spill

[Cetacea]

15. Sink not.

For the late afternoon crowd.

[Cetacea]

16. glub glub