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fearing what we cannot see
May. 16th, 2010 09:48 amSo, you're a government climatologist, with cutting edge observation and modeling technology. Based on current wind, weather and water trends, you issue forecasts for a vast pool of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This report is issued to all, to be used in all manner of tasks related to spill dispersal, oil capture and wildlife preservation. You are the master of your domain.
Not.
Why? Because with all of your techno-toys, with reams of empirical data, you are missing a piece of this black greasy puzzle: depth. In using what is basically 2-D know-how, NOAA has issued these spill progression forecasts, three days at a time. When asked about the mystery of the oil pool shrinking, the answer has been "evaporation". Laws of physics state that matter is neither created nor destroyed. This morning, the New York Times publishes what I believe is a nightmare scenario. The oil has formed like an iceberg, far more beneath the surface than what we observe topside.
"Interviewed on Saturday by satellite phone, one researcher aboard the Pelican, Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi, said the shallowest oil plume the group had detected was at about 2,300 feet, while the deepest was near the seafloor at about 4,200 feet."
If you want to extinguish a food chain, you start at the bottom.
Not.
Why? Because with all of your techno-toys, with reams of empirical data, you are missing a piece of this black greasy puzzle: depth. In using what is basically 2-D know-how, NOAA has issued these spill progression forecasts, three days at a time. When asked about the mystery of the oil pool shrinking, the answer has been "evaporation". Laws of physics state that matter is neither created nor destroyed. This morning, the New York Times publishes what I believe is a nightmare scenario. The oil has formed like an iceberg, far more beneath the surface than what we observe topside.
Giant Plumes of Oil Found Forming Under Gulf of Mexico
"Interviewed on Saturday by satellite phone, one researcher aboard the Pelican, Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi, said the shallowest oil plume the group had detected was at about 2,300 feet, while the deepest was near the seafloor at about 4,200 feet."
If you want to extinguish a food chain, you start at the bottom.
