Can anyone answer this for me?

Science, admittedly, is not my forte. If anyone can appease my concerns, I'd be much obliged.

Hypothetical situation: Let's say those that think the Deepwater Horizon is no big deal are correct. Let's assume there will be no immediate doomsday scenario from this catastrophe, no methane explosion causing a tsunami, no death and disease aside from major loss of wildlife. Everything turns out to be just peachy and apparently recoverable.

No matter the attempts of the brightest minds in the world, however, there is no way to stop this huge mass of oil from spreading. Oil, being the dark color it is, could bring on a global warming, could it not? I mean, we're all taught from a young age that dark colors, namely black, absorb the sun. This is why if you wear a black shirt in the summer, you're far more likely to feel the heat more than a person wearing white, right? Well, it seems soon the Gulf of Mexico, and soon thereafter, the Atlantic ocean, is soon to wear it's brand new black shirt, so to speak. Could that in turn raise the global temperature?

There has been some *speculation* that the oil could raise the water temperature of the Gulf of Mexico. Which, by the way, is already a very warm body of water by the very nature of its geography.

That said, it is not a closed body of water. That fact should tend to ameliorate the effects of a "darkening" effect if there is credence to the speculation.

reply to post by Geeky_Bubbe

Since the Gulf is open, it wouldn't be isolated to there, I was more wondering about the implications on the large scale, like the Global Avg. Temperature. Just because it can and will leave the Gulf, does that affect how it's felt around the world?

the oil slicks on the surface should not spread out completely to make the whole GOM a dark spot which absorbes more solar radiation than 'clear' water...

at the very best (worst depending on view) the oil should form all sorts of sizes of oil spots, think a leopard pelt,
all these seperate oil spots, some perhaps miles in size would create heat vortices causing strange disturbances in the air currents.

that kind of disturbance to the air is mostly caused from the wave actions which are created from the tidal forces of the moon & then enhanced by the air currents...

but with the large spots of surface oil generating updrafts of heat energy, --> well you would have to get some computer models to see if the environment would generate more forceful hurricanes or water-spouts in the immediate areas of the Gulf.
my inclination is that the oil would cause less evaporation of the surface water, thus creating more vigorious wind conditions...and making the gulf states more & more arid...
and central florida would not get their accoustomed 2PM showers every day...the water table would very quickly be drained so that florida could very well become a very dry spit of land that is barren---everyone that could would flee from the foreboding future of such a place...

No more Miami Beach where the affuluent retire & others madcap around

[edit on 19-6-2010 by St Udio]

reply to post by Dephyle


No, it will not have a global impact as to water temperature. It's complete speculation that it will even have a local impact.

lol i wouldnt thing the colour would make much difference to temperature gasses tht are relased however would be another matter but i dont see this being our 2012 :-)

Originally posted by Geeky_Bubbe
There has been some *speculation* that the oil could raise the water temperature of the Gulf of Mexico. Which, by the way, is already a very warm body of water by the very nature of its geography.

That said, it is not a closed body of water. That fact should tend to ameliorate the effects of a "darkening" effect if there is credence to the speculation.

so any type of tropical storm or category 1+ that enters the affected area will only be more powerful due to the influx of heat and moisture... like other storms that have entered warmer waters?

will a hurricane (sp?) enter the gulf this season? Will warmer waters make it worse? yep.

is one person at BP totally responsible more so than billions who supply the demand, the demand that was supplied by the manipulation of information by those like minded individuals who value $, control, and power more so than sharing information ...

just some thoughts,
ET

reply to post by Esoteric Teacher


No. Please do not be tempted into a simplistic "if this - then that" thought process.

Hurricanes are complicated. Meteorologists go to school for a number of years and even many of them do not fully grasp the "engines" that feed into a tropical cyclone.

You can have a very hot, relatively speaking, body of water but if the winds and fronts do not favor formation or strengthening... it ain't gonna happen. Think of it as Nature's Symphony not the Gulf's brass section.



[edit on 19/6/10 by Geeky_Bubbe]

This article addresses the OP's point a bit....

Guess they just don't know really.