Looks like those previous estimates may have been a bit low. Now we're looking at 30,000 - 60,000 barrels a day. Over 60 days. At 60,000 barrels a day? 3.6million barrels. 151.2million gallons. 202million cubic feet. That's a oily, goo filled cube under 300'x300'x300'.
How big is the gulf? 615,000 square miles. Or an area just under 785 miles x 785 miles. Or 4.14million feet x 4.14million feet.
At scales like this, it's kind of hard to put it into context.
Imagine this. Spilling one cubic foot of oily goo (just under 7.5 gallons) in an area that is 13,800' x 13,800' (2.6 miles x 2.6 miles).
Or spilling a gallon of oily goo (the contents of your engine - about 231 cubic inches - about a 6" cube) in an area that is just over 6,900 feet x 6,900 feet. That's a 6" cube over an area of 1.3 x 1.3 miles.
Or this: one dice (3/4" x 3/4" x 3/4") in an area of that is just over 862 feet x 862 feet.
I'm just saying.
Could someone run these numbers and double check?
4 comments:
you're applying cubic areas to square miles. it's a bit skewed. The area now covered by oil is 2500 sq mi (surface) or 9500 sq mi (total). the area of the Gulf is 615,000 sq mi, but that is the entire gulf basin, which includes wetlands which aren't included in gulf oil coverage.
Basically the spill would cover the entire country of England at this point. which would put all of us out of some good fish and chips.
I think the problem with these spacial comparisons is the that there is no factor for the characteristics of the elements being compared, how they 'commingle' and what they do to things they come in contact with... case in point, we wouldn't be comparing cubic areas or square feet if the substances were, say, nuclear waste, Dioxin or blue food coloring...
Not sure where Phil's headed with that, but along the same lines as what Mark said, it's the same problem with thinking about global warming as only a few degrees temperature swing... it's not a big deal whether today's high is 73 degrees or 76 degrees, but that's not what makes global warming a looming catastrophe.
It doesn't take much to create a chain reaction in our environment.
I like how BP is now claiming that they will "soon" be capturing 90% of the leaking (aka gushing) oil.
However, that's 90% of a number that is 600% larger than their original estimates. The 10% that they are still spewing would amount to 6,000 barrels a day.
And people we freaking out at the original estimate of 1,000 a day.
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