Oil on the water perhaps not as bad as it gets

Oil on the water may be bad enough but what would happen if a storm came by with intense lighting and ignited it. Strikes me that all current operations to stop this spill would be delayed until the oil had burnt off - but will ill it burn off when its still leaking and what would that do to the global atmosphere.

Actually I don't know I'm just asking the question.

What about the effect of the oil slick on top of the water causing parts of the ocean around the spill site to heat up? Is that even possible? Not only that but I always thought that if it got into rivers or estuaries it could cause the water to stagnate and turn into a swamp :S Not sure if that could happen either, just adding to the OP's questions.

reply to post by majestictwo


I have wondered this, as well as a plane crash or ship explosion, would that ignite the oil?

Also the oil that is evaporated into the clouds, does it maintain it's flamabilty?

I had this dream about the sky being on fire, military on the ground and people were hiding anywhere they could to avoid the fires dropping right out of the sky. That dream was 2 yrs ago, I posted it somewhere here on ATS, I thought about it again recently because of an article about the oil evaporating into the clouds.

edit to add: I do know that the warm waters of the gulf, are going to cause the toxins in the oils and dispersants to be stronger.

[edit on 13-6-2010 by space cadet]