NASA Captures First Photos of Massive 'Arm' of Oil Slick | Hacker News Reader

NASA Captures First Photos of Massive 'Arm' of Oil Slick

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

42 pointsMikeCapone13 comments

And yet it isn't anyone's fault, the response went perfectly to plan, and we'll have another one because we won't learn anything.

Seeing this makes me sad.

It may be a sad thing but maybe it's what was needed for offshore drilling reform. This is (on the grand scale of the Earth and its ecosystem) no where near life-ending; but big enough to make an impact.

Seeing this makes me angry because it was avoidable.

How was it avoidable?

Changing the batteries in the control panel that caused the blowoff mechanism (or what ever it was) to mal function.

Better testing methods for the equipment and more redundancy would also have made it a LOT less likely.

By not drilling in the ocean, where mistakes like this have far-reaching effects, among other, more technical reasons.

I also think drilling 5000 feet down complicates things. There is a massive lag between noticing a problem and coming up with viable solutions. It's not really a hands on issue.

I honestly think this is a better link:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/nasa-satellite-photo...

This show that the massive arm is going with the Gulf Loop Current:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oil-spill-gulf-loop-current....

What is interesting and not in the full photo, is where does the "Gulf Loop Current" go? A little googleing shows this image: http://www.texaspelagics.com/GOMocean.html

But where do you think it is going to end up after is leaves to the right of the image.. Further up the coast of Florida I assume?!?

Are they even trying to plug this thing? Or are they really trying to salvage it and turn it back into a productive rig?

I think those are both the same thing. Plugging it would allow them to redrill later in a different location. Salvaging it immediately would allow them to do both at the same time.

Both would eventually stop the flow of uncaptured oil, but would they both stop the flow in the same amount of time?

That is the real problem here: the question of which option to pursue should be driven by getting the leak stopped ASAP. I fear someone has their mind on revenue.

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