BP Gulf oil spill update: The leaked oil pulls disappearing act, where has all the oil gone?
Related article: BP Gulf oil spill update: Were Tony Hayward and Rush Limbaugh right after all?
Cable news built up the BP oil spill as an environmental disaster of biblical proportions.
We were told the gulf beaches would be blackened with oil and that it could be decades before the gulf region returned to normal.
The leaking well was capped nearly two weeks ago. Now scientists now say that much of the leaked oil is disappearing on its own.
One of the first people in the media to question whether the predicted environmental disaster was overblown was scientist Dr. Bill Wattenburg who hosts a talk show on San Francisco-based radio station, KGO. Wattenburg was among the team of scientists who helped put out the oil wells that Saddam Hussein set on fire during the Iraq war.
While not downplaying the environmental damage, Wattenburg pointed out that much of the oil would likely be eaten by microorganisms and eventually absorbed into the rich food chain of the Gulf.
Since the leak has been capped, Wattenburg has been proven correct.
On Wednesday, July 28, Yahoo News reported that the oil slicks that spread for thousands of miles have “largely disappeared” with relatively little washing up on beaches.
On Monday, ABC News reported that the biggest challenge for cleanup crews lately is to find oil. ABC looked but could find no oil on the water. (See video below.)
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that reporters who flew over the Gulf on Sunday spotted only a few patches of sheen in the water and only “an occasional streak of thicker oil.” The Times also noted that radar images show that the few remaining patches of oil are breaking down quickly in the warm water.
Yahoo reports that as much as 40 percent of the oil might have evaporated when it hit the surface and that high winds from recent storms may have sped up that process. But the biggest cause for the oil’s disappearance may be as the result of it being eaten up by microbes. Those microbes thrive in the warm Gulf waters, which is why, experts say, a similar effect was not noticed after the Exxon Valdez disaster. The controversial dispersants may have helped by breaking up the oil into a form more palatable to the bacteria and fungi that feed on the oil.
Louisiana State University biologist Ed Overton told the Christian Science Monitor earlier this week, “"To bacteria, this oil spill is filet mignon, not chopped beef."
Because the ocean floor naturally leaks oil, the oil-eating bugs have always been there. But now it appears that they are in the midst of a feeding frenzy.
University of Georgia geochemist tells Yahoo News that oxygen levels in parts of the Gulf have dropped, an indication that the microbes may be hard at work eating. They use oxygen to eat the oil.
Although 4,000 boats are involved in the oil skimming operation, they are expected to only pick up about 1 or 2 percent of the oil.
Despite the improved conditions in the Gulf, scientists say it is too early to celebrate. More time is needed before the full impact of the spill can be calculated.
Thomas Shirley, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, took a more pessimistic view, telling the Monitor, "Superficially, everything is going to look fine and within a couple of years we'll be back to normal shrimp catches, but we will have certain species on which this will have had a catastrophic effect and that will be a long time in recovery.”
Live streaming video below from BP of the operation in the Gulf.
Related article: BP Gulf oil spill update: Were Tony Hayward and Rush Limbaugh right after all?
Comments
Ummm, they have done nothing but spray a trillion gallons of a chemical that makes oil bind together and sink.... according to BP literature. The real question should be, have they stopped spraying now, since there is "no" oil left on the surface?
Good to know, thanks for the update
Yeah, have to agree with Tony. its not that its "Disappearing" its that BP has hidden it by causing it to sink. God I hope the rest of the media doesn't start with this, its OK now bull crap. Its NOT. you just can't see it, and BP likes it that way
I totally disagree that this oil has disappeared,check the sea bottom and the sea birds and the shore line.Ask the people in the parishes can they resume fishing next week.I would say not.BP wishes the oil was gone.But this diaster is far from being over.
This website is embarrassing that it would write an article like this. Get your heads out of your asses! Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't still there.
Did BP or the Gov. pay for this article to be written? Come on, you think the oil could be "eaten" this fast? Totally unbelievable. Have you seen the pictures BP never released? Have you seen the ocean floor pictures? The oil may not be visible on the surface like it was while the leak was present, but it is FAR from gone. Heck, anyone who thinks the oil has disappeared this fast clearly need to seek help.
Honestly, Ed, I'm disgusted you wrote this article. You've completely neglected the people of Louisiana and their affected neighbors. Do you think they noticed the oil "disappearing"?
Of course the government and media will begin getting off of this subject so that the president doesn't look like a huge failure compared to Bush during Katrina. Anyone with half a brain can see that coming.
Sadly, this is what our nation has come to and unfortunately, you're only part of the problem.
Millions of gallons of oil are less than a single drop when compared to the ocean. It dilutes, and dilutes and dilutes, constantly being swept in all directions (not just those pointing towards the shore).
Good job media! You have conditioned the idiots like slackerradio, Matt, and Leshia to believe the talking heads of MSLSD and CNN over scientists and clearly obvious facts. They have the Sheeple of the US conditioned so well to believe the worst of the worst every time something happens, that when there is the possibility that things are not as bad as they were thought to be, people like these refuse to believe it.
When are they going to stop the skimmer boats? Havning 4000 boats running around doing nothing is only going to increase polution, not decrease it. Indeed, since only 1 or 2% of the oil was removed by these boats (and the other 98% goes away quickly on its own), was it ever a good idea having these boats doing their work? Would it have been better to have done nothing??????
Hmm... a microbe feeding frenzy which makes oil "disappear"? And what eats the microbes? And then what eats whatever ate the microbes? And so on, up the FOOD CHAIN. The residual effects of this spill are thus still environmentally TOXIC, even if appearing in a different/less visible form, ya?
Actually, those of us with experience in the gulf dealing with oil knew this was exactly what would happen. As for the Tarballs that have shown up, the ones from this oilspill won't appear for a decade or two, they sank to the bottom in 5000 feet of water, it takes time for them to reach the beach.
People have been comparing this leak to the Valdez, that's kinda like comparing someone farting in your car to someone farting in the middle of an empty football field covered in charcoal with a cloud of febreze decending. The Valdez ran up on shore in a narrow passage. The oil as a result, hit the beach very directly. The beaches that still have oil on them got more oil, and were destroyed by dogood knownothing greenies with steamcleaners.
The gulf is a different story altogether, the warm water alone makes a difference due to greater biologocial activity.
I know it is not cool for people who know what they are talking about to comment on any subject these days, but here you have
BP is being a trickster, a shadow magician explained in Jungian psychology in "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover", by Moore and Gillette and causing the oil to be out of sight...this was engineered by them and even possibly our own government..."out of sight, out of mind". A shadow magician is highly manipulative, deceptive as is known as a "con-artist" in our society...BP has con-ed many of us that are easily fooled by having the same shadow...those who are manipulative with others will easily be fooled while those who own their trickster dark shadow will not be fooled by these tricks....there is great power in owning your shadow parts...."shadow is what we hide, repress, and deny" just like the black oil here, an excellent metaphor.
While at the beach today,in Hubbards Nova Scotia,I realize how lucky we are to enjoy this beauty.The people and marine life living around the Gulf of Mexico will not be able to do this for a very long time ,thanks to BP.As long as greed and money rule,any part of the world could be in the awful diaster as the Gulf of Mexico.
totaly disgussed............... oil is still underwater and worst Corexit in il all waters now.
Media is blind or paid bu BP
So do them "microbes" eat goons too because there's a whole bunch up in Washington that need to magically disappear.
Sir ,Madam.
In this article which published by Ed Walsh July 28 2010 there are many mistakes
1- Oil Wels that sadam hussein ignited was putting out fire by new method from an engineer from romanya. He used a rosrise aircraft engine.
2- Oil skimming by boats where time consuming low efficient, they where sucking water instead oil.
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