The Special "TOP HAT" Cover on Top of the BOP has Apparently Blown Off!

Originally posted by cosmicpixie
If it is indeed melting/breaking then they won't be able to put the cap back on will they ?

It would be difficult due to the pressure but they can still mount them on the area where the different sections are bolted on top of each other. Use the upper part of the lower section as a base to mount it.

And how would this effect the relief well efforts ? Could they still try that tactic if this thing is all melted/broken ?

The rate of erosion of the steel on top of the hole is slow but steady. I realy think that the relief wells can be the end solution IF the well structure manages to hold and not buckle under the constant strains.

has anyone got pics of what this looked like a few days /weeks ago so we can compare and see how much the front has broken . I'm sure pics I saw in the last couple of days showed it was all in tact and now 1/2 the front is gone

Okey, if anyones interested, TopHat is just hanging there on Enterprise ROV2 www.bp.com...
Don't look like anythings wrong with it, just dirty.
Okey, I've got a question. They took TopHat off the "check" it for whatever story their tell now and suspending operations, right? This was working to a small extent, so my question. Why don't they have a BACKUP TopHat to keep extracting oil?! Am I missing something here?
You've got something that seems to be working and now your gonna stop?

[edit on 23-6-2010 by Chance321]

Site has pictures of what it looked like early on

www.treehugger.com...

this link has images from May

Originally posted by cosmicpixie
has anyone got pics of what this looked like a few days /weeks ago so we can compare and see how much the front has broken . I'm sure pics I saw in the last couple of days showed it was all in tact and now 1/2 the front is gone

check some older bp spill threads for a pic. i'm looking but have to leave in a couple.

Argh.. just lost my CNN feed. Please keep me updated on whats going on. Stuck at work and, not to trivialize the situation, but this is more interesting then programming

Originally posted by DerekJR321
Argh.. just lost my CNN feed. Please keep me updated on whats going on. Stuck at work and, not to trivialize the situation, but this is more interesting then programming

My CNN feed went down as well. Silly CNN.

You can get a wide screen all 12 streams displayed here

www.searchlawrence.com...

much faster since this was put up to cover extra bandwidth

Looks like to me it has busted all to pieces...Especially when enlarged.It even looks like it may have melted....

reply to post by Cito


For some reason none of the multi-cam feeds come up on my system. It just hangs. I'm using Google Chrome on a MacBook. So until I get that figured out I'm stuck with one view.

reply to post by cosmicpixie


I don't have any pics, but I've been watching, and in just the past day, the side of that pipe has started to look like it's melting away. Go back to page 10, there is a video of a similar angle.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by ganja]

Originally posted by MotherofBlessings
reply to post by Cito

 

For some reason none of the multi-cam feeds come up on my system. It just hangs. I'm using Google Chrome on a MacBook. So until I get that figured out I'm stuck with one view.

you can click each cam individually to load it.

or he has a "light" version for less strain on systems that can't handle full 12 hq streams at same time

www.searchlawrence.com...


but even if they dont load, see the squares, just click them and it will bring up that cam by itself..

much better site than the others

imo of course

Check this out:


The pic on the left is a recent (like within the past 5 minutes) screenshot. The pic on the right is from about 5 hours ago.

Differences:
1. The pipe is blacker. This is due to heat, in my opinion.

2. Even more telling - notice the 'blob' of stuff on the flange. It wasn't there a few hours ago. Yes, the angle IS different. However, you still should be able to see the yellow discharge on the flange in the picture on the right. If it was there, it would be visible along the outermost right side of the pipe in that picture, and it would be visible in a pool on the flange.





[edit on 23-6-2010 by atlguy]

[edit on 23-6-2010 by atlguy]

Little known fact, when any form of oxidizer comes into contact with salt, specifically as a dissolved solid it breaks down the sodium chloride (salt) and becomes chlorine gas. If you need an experiment to prove it, find someone with a salt style swimming pool, and add a pound of non chlorine shock,( potassium monopersulfate). Test the chlorine an hour later and you will see it is dramatically higher. The word chlorine comes from the Greek word Chlorous which literally means green gas. I wonder if this could explain the green tint to the water in earlier pics today. The salt level in a salt style swimming pool is roughly 3200 ppm, the salt content in the ocean is roughly 35,000 parts per million. I can not say what forms of oxidizers may be coming out of the well, but they are more than likely to exist at some level. If they are coming out on a very large level, it may be creating A HUGE AMOUNT OF CHLORINE. If you live on the gulf I would ask you to take a chlorine test kit, or test strips down to the beach and test the water. If you are getting any chlorine reading period, we are in trouble.

On Skandi2 The boom/arm spraying the dispersant has some discolouration to it. I looks to me like it is Purple/Blue/White.
Does anyone know what the original colour was and what might cause multiple colours on the boom?
Gasses I suppose would be the logical thing, but the white/blue makes me think heat.
Just asking as the colours really stand out at this moment.
Regards,
Iwinder

I'm only on page 10 of this thread, but decided to jump ahead with a question.

How is it that these live feeds are so CLEAR? I just watched ROV1 pick up something off of the sea floor and it created a substantial cloud from the silt. Do you mean to tell me that this HUGE flow of oil (or whatever it is) is not generating any turbulence around it at all, and the sea floor around it still has a deep layer of silt completely untouched by any turbulence at all? The water is WAY too clear down there. I would think it would be like trying to see through a major dust storm.

Oh yeah, and as for the bright coloration of that oil column being from the lighting, please tell me, what sort of light would you use to shine on a BLACK column of oil to make it appear yellow and orange?

Perhaps this has all been answered before, and sorry that I have missed the answers.

Originally posted by Under Water
reply to post by cosmicpixie

 

I've never come across any mention of the sea floor DROPPING in any article about this disaster, only speculation that it might rise and cause a tsunami. What the heck does the sea floor DROPPING mean ?

After enough oil leaks out, the water will then fall into the gaping hole because the sea floor might cave in on itself. That "might" cause a tsunami. Also, the water is cold and inside the oil cavern is hot and that could create a rush of steam. I don't understand much myself really, but that's what i've gathered so far from all the talk.


[edit on 23-6-2010 by Under Water]

Actually, we have proof that the seabed has dropped, at least some. Look at the existing ROV's, then look at the June 3rd links that are referenced in this thread.

Originally posted by Rich Z
I'm only on page 10 of this thread, but decided to jump ahead with a question.

How is it that these live feeds are so CLEAR? I just watched ROV1 pick up something off of the sea floor and it created a substantial cloud from the silt. Do you mean to tell me that this HUGE flow of oil (or whatever it is) is not generating any turbulence around it at all, and the sea floor around it still has a deep layer of silt completely untouched by any turbulence at all? The water is WAY too clear down there. I would think it would be like trying to see through a major dust storm.

Oh yeah, and as for the bright coloration of that oil column being from the lighting, please tell me, what sort of light would you use to shine on a BLACK column of oil to make it appear yellow and orange?

Perhaps this has all been answered before, and sorry that I have missed the answers.

the pipe is 1 color on outside but when it ruptured it tore the pipe now you see the middle layer of the pipe which is now open to the surrounding oxidation


imagine galvanized pipe yea it's galvanized on outside but say you ripped it the middle isn't and will oxidize where the outside may not

you expose a non protected piece of iron to that pressure a mile down plus salt water and the chemicals and watch how fast it oxidizes

So the other question is, how long before all the water in all the oceans are polluted.

www.madsci.org...

One cubic mile = 1,000,000,000,000 gallons so the earth has -
326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons.


wiki.answers.com...
It is generally accepted that one gallon of motor oil polutes 1,000,000 gallons of water. It's not gasoline, but it's closer than nothing! One source of this info is the North Carolina Clean Water Education Partnership. See www.nccwep.org... for the citation.

which means 32,600,000,000,000 gallons would kill all the oceans.
With the new pressure coming out , any real guesses as to how many gallons are coming out a day? give us a time frame to look at.

reply to post by matadoor001


yup, this is what I am talking about.. Not to scare anyone to death on the gulfcoast but IF, or when a methane bubble bursts, your talking One hundred and Fifty thousand PSIG, rising up to the surface which will cause a Tital wave from HELL itself.. It will also change EVERYTHING.