Anyone else watching the CNN ROV-cam feed from under the ocean? The ROV is moving?

[Poll_Blind]

Does it do this frequently? Looks like it's just moving along the sea floor, looking.

PB

[ladjf]

1. Might be checking for leaks in the ocean floor through cracks

in the mud and rock. I hope he doesn't find many. That would be bad news.

[G_j]

2. if they found any

we would not be hearing about it

[Stardust]

4. That's exactly what it's doing. (And if the rumors are correct,, there

are many more leaks.)

[Poll_Blind]

6. There was a snippet of video which I saw in which it appeared there...

...were hydrates and oil coming up through cracks in the sea floor. While some of that portion of video did appear to show silt kicked up by the fans on the ROV, there were a few portions which clearly showed puffs of material coming up from small cracks which did not in any way appear to be related to the control propellers.

I'm starting to think that it's an open but not clearly-enunciated (at least not on TV yet) secret that because of damage to the bore and the sleeve which would normally sit inside it, that the oil and methane has, at an unknown number of spots all up the shaft, been pushing out into the surrounding rock.

At these kinds of pressures the tiny bits of sand are acting like sandblasters wearing away at the inside of the sleeve. There is a good chance that the bottom portion of the sleeve, the part that is closest to the oil pool, has likely been eroded either partly or entirely away. The flow up that pipe is incredibly fast, under incredible pressure (remember, it's pushing up against 5,000 feet of water like it's not there at all), and any grit in there is scraping and eroding the vessel it's traveling through at such incredible speeds and pressures.

It has taken me a few days to really understand the uncontroversial aspects of this, which are summed-up mostly by the preceding paragraph. Pressure, volume, erosion.

It was said that we'll know right before it goes when the BOP, which weighs a couple of hundred tonnes, IIRC, when that starts to have oil & bubbles coming up around it it means the erosion has worn up the pipe and it's very shortly after that that the BOP will drop down to the sea floor (it does not rest on the sea floor but is attached to the pipe).

Once that sequence of events happens there will be a completely open channel from the sea floor to the high-pressure oil pool a few miles below it and then not God or nukes or the goodwill of all mankind will be able to stop it.

I'm sure the President has been aware of this eventuality for quite a while but I can only guess at what the estimates are before the erosion will reach the surface. Nobody really knows for sure.

PB

[ladjf]

13. This could well explain why no serious attempts were made to

actually stop the flow from the top. They might have even been afraid to activate the BOP for the same reason. The pipe and casings were already sub-standard, then further weakened by the explosion.

The oil/gas could still be captured by a device that works on the principle of the stove-top vent, meaning that the escaping oil would be captured in an open hood arrangement followed by a large
pipe to the surface pump ship. This setup would put no pressure on the subterranean elements.

[Stardust]

14. The stove-top vent device is brilliant. I've been thinking about a funnel-type

device (inverted, of course.) BP doesn't seem to want to deploy its tankers, though. So frustrating, and frightening.

:scared:

I've also read that the BOP is listing and in danger of toppling over. It's taken a lot of abuse and can't hold out forever.

[gateley]

3. Have you checked out the sites with multi-cam views? I just checked

out CNN but there was nothing there. Links to other cams here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8552450&mesg_id=8552450

Also check out http://www.theoildrum.com/-- they're always on top of what's happening. Here's the latest page: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6616#more

[Poll_Blind]

7. Thanks for those, I am going to start to keeping a closer eye on this.

PB

[gateley]

9. Unfortunately there hasn't been much action lately, but the eagle-eyed folks

on the DU thread are always alert! :7

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

5. Maybe the ROV is getting bored looking at the same thing for hours

It's checking around to see if there's anything better on t.v.

[Poll_Blind]

8. It's being brought to the surface. The ROV's coming to the surface.

I think it'll be at least another 10+ minutes before it reaches the surface but I'm probably going to keep watching anyway to see if they keep the video feed going long enough to capture the looks on the faces of the men and women at the scene.

For some reason, maybe irrational, I want to see their faces.

PB

[Poll_Blind]

10. It's out and they're hosing it off. Strange.

PB

[lpbk2713]

11. I noticed at about 100 ft the screen turned brown

Must have gone through a patch of oil. Understandable, it's all over.

[Poll_Blind]

12. I was distracted and when I came back it was being hoisted out of the water. 100 feet? Oh man.

...

PB