How Long Will the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Last? | Hacker News Reader

How Long Will the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Last?

scientificamerican.com

8 pointsjacquesm7 comments

The engineering side of this situation has been underreported. (Maybe I don't follow the right websites) I support people submitting more stories on the tech side of the spill to HN. Considering the entire thing is being done by robots at 5,000 ft deep, there is some real technology getting used here.

I've heard one of the biggest risks with global warming is that as the ocean water changes temperatures it has the potential to alter the flow of ocean water currents.

I'm wondering if this oil spill somehow has the potential to do the same thing. Maybe the change in consistency of the water in the gulf. Maybe the layer of oil on the surface will cause water temperatures beneath it. Maybe the lack of oxygen beneath the layer of oil will wreak some unknown consequences.

Any good resources on this topic?

It definitely will have some effect, but man is that hard to predict. I think we won't see information on that for a while, we still barely understand the currents of the ocean to begin with.

Agreed, it would be nice to get a better look at what goes on under the waves there, but I'm not aware of any news sites that would carry that kind of thing.

Scary if you think about how much oil is being liberated there and how big an area could be covered with a .5 mm thick film based on the daily output of that well.

If I were BPs execs and shareholders I'd be very worried about the continued existence of the company, their stock is already down 25% since when all this started.

If I were BPs execs, I'd be worried about more than my job.

You mean jail? Criminal negligence is going to be tough to prove at the executive level, this is not an 'Enron', but it might come to that still.

Depends on the final aftermath I'd say, i.e. on whether the politicians will need a scapegoat or not.

In terms of environmental magnitude it's not yet decided whether this will make it into the Top 3 or even Top 10. According to the article around 5000 barrels of oil spill per day, with "multiple news sources" claiming it's much worse.

So let's assume it's actually 50000 barrels spilling daily.

Even at that rate it would still take 40 days to make it into the Top 3 of worst oil spills (according to wikipedia).

However, the eventual environmental impact will most certainly not decide over whether BP heads roll or not. The financial impact on the american economy will. BP might go under even if the spill remains comparably small in the big picture - because fishies don't vote. BP might prevail even if the spill becomes the largest in history - if they pull their political strings right.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com