How much is 21,000 barrels (or 660,000 gallons) of liquid?

[Duer 157099]

It's how much an Olympic size swimming pool holds.

Just for reference.

[customerserviceguy]

1. That's one of the reasons

I don't think this will be Exxon Valdez, part II. I don't know exactly how much a supertanker holds, but I would imagine the oil released so far would barely wet the bottom of it. Also, the Gulf of Mexico is way larger than the sound where the Exxon Valdez dumped it's cargo.

True, it spreads like crazy in that warm water, but it's not as concentrated as it was when it reached the shores of Alaska. I don't seek to minimize the scope of this disaster, but I just don't see it being quite as severe as what we saw a couple of decades ago.

[HereSince1628]

4. this isn't contained in an embayment...

although it is less barrels it's free to spread where wind and currents take it.

Extensity isn't just a matter or barrels lost, it's also the area of coast and fisheries affected. The book isn't complete on this mess.

[customerserviceguy]

9. That is quite true

But frankly, I expected to see more severe stories over this weekend than I have. If that means that things are better than the worst we all feared, then it's good, but as you point out, there's more of the story to play out here.

[uppityperson]

10. Exxon Valdez spilled 250,000 barrels, carried ~ 1,277,273 barrels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled an estimated minimum 10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million litres) of crude oil.

Elsewhere I found it carried "54-million-gallon cargo of oil". 1,227,273 barrels.

If this gush stays at only 5,000 barrels a day, not increasing (up to the feared 100,000 barrels a day), then in 60 days, will be 300,000 barrels.

It will be, is, different from the Valdez. Hard to predict since there is still a lot unknown. I found an interesting article at NOLA.com with a couple graphics

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/gulf_oil_spill_has_our_full_at.html

[customerserviceguy]

11. Good research!

I thought the whole load had dumped from the Exxon Valdez, glad to know the whole thing didn't befoul the environment.

Still, this could hopefully prove to be less of an ecological disaster than we saw a couple of decades ago, I'm hoping. In any case, its occurrence killed off any further offshore drilling, and for that we all need to be grateful.

[lapfog_1]

2. And it covers an area about the size of Jamaica righ now

And, there is no "quick fix" solution to stop it. So over the next 4 to 5 months it might be 2000000 barrels or about twice the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster (some beaches and environmentally sensitive areas there have yet to recover... you can go right now to the beach, dig down a few inches, and find "oil balls" about the size of marbles).

Just for reference.

[FarCenter]

6. What do the remaining oil balls from the Exxon Valdez do?

Do they affect anything or is it just the "ick" factor?

I'd think that what remains would be like balls of asphalt now?

[FarCenter]

3. The Antarctic circumpolar current is about 75 million barrels per second

That is the highest volume ocean current.

[dsc]

5. amazingly enough only 1

but remember it will cover a much larger area since it will only go a few inches deep as opposed to several feet.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=olympic+sized+swimming+pool+gallons&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSHB_en___US342

On edit: I may be off by orders of magnatude on the thickness. An olympic sized pool is 2 meters or about 6 feet 7 inches deep. If the thickness is what is reported at the link down thread it is more like a millimeter thick.

[BeFree]

8. well

Since it is coming up from 5,000 feet and is under intense pressure, a large part of it will be emulsified. There will be columns of oil dispersed in the water from 5,000 feet up to the surface.

Dispersants may be used which would emulsify even more of the oil.

I noticed the brown nature of the surface oil. Brown is the color of water with a great deal of oil particles entrained. Black is the color of straight oil floating separate from the water.

Methinks we have a great deal of dispersion already, probably due to the intense pressure at 5,000 feet. We may only be seeing a small percentage of the oil actually in the water. Oh, shit.

[metapunditedgy]

7. According to this blog post, the amount of oil exceeds the Exxon Valdez

pretty much already, and the thickness of the oil slick is conservatively estimated as a fraction of a human hair. Hard to know what the real numbers are at this point, but I think the information is useful for the questions raised in this thread.

http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-new-spill-rate.html

[SargeUNN]

12. Spill vs constant gusher

the comparison to the Alaskan event and this one runs into trouble when it is still adding oil to the area if I understand right. How much at what rate is pretty important, but talking to my sister on the Mississippi Coast, the community there is worried and feels it might be more tragic than Katrina if you can imagine. Gene Taylor has given a less intense evaluation of it while others have been very dark in their statements.