Gulf of Mexico - Oil Spill
The oil spill saçılma that resulted from the explosion and sinking batma of an oil rig teçhizat in the Gulf of Mexico in 22nd of April is becoming more worrying endişe verici as it continues to spread dağılmak and efforts at stemming durdurmak the flow akın of the leaking oil are being met with difficulties.
How big is the oil slicksu yüzünde bulunan yağ tabakasıand how fast is it growing?
So far şimdiye kadar the oil slick has not spread out enough to reach the coastline kıyı şeridi, though officials are concerned ilgili about that possibility. The most recent son NOAA report on the spill says that the edge (i.) kenar of the area with visible oil is now 21 miles (34 km) from the nearest point of land, which is the SW Pass at the tip uç of the Mississippi River Delta.
Initially, emergency responders yanıt veren didn't think that any oil was leaking out of the well kuyu on the ocean floor some 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) below the ocean surface, a distance roughly aşağı yukarı equivalent denk to five Eiffel Towers. A valve valf is supposed to automatically seal off tıkamak the well to prevent engellemek any leakage sızıntı. Over the weekend, officials realized that the valve had not activated and that oil was indeed leaking from the circuitous dolaşık set of pipes that led from the well to the rig.
There's still flow there coming from the well head. The well head is supplying sağlamak the leaking oil. It's coming up from the well head, going out into the drill sondaj pipe and into the riser basamaklı platform. It's coming out of [a]kink düğüm or a bend in the riser, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell, who is currently şu anda working for the Deepwater Horizon Response Joint Information Center. The riser is a protective covering around the drill pipe that also connects the pipe to the drilling rig.
The kink or bend in the riser probably muhtemelen occurred meydana gelmek when the rig went down, because it is attached to the rig, said Paul Bommer, a petrogeologist at University of Texas at Austin.
Why can't they plughımlamakthe leak?
To plug the leak, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have been deployed harekete geçirmek to try to trigger başlatmak the blowout patlama preventer (BOP), a valve that, when activated, would secure elde etmek the leak, Terrell explained. The valve is located at the well head on the ocean floor.
Right now, what the ROVs are doing is pumping a hydraulic fluid into the blowout preventer, in hopes to build pressure [to] close the hydraulic valve, Terrell told LiveScience.The valve is supposed to gerekmek to work automatically, so now we're trying to come up with ileri sürmek different ways to activate the blowout preventer manually.
The BOP's malfunction işlev bozukluğu in this case — something that Terrell said is uncommon — will be part of ongoing investigations inceleme into the incident olay.
The ROV robot subs, manufactured by a company called Oceaneering, have been an integral bütünleyici part of the effort to control the leaking oil.
The ROVs are our eyes and our hands down there, Terrell said.We can't just go down 5,000 feet and work in that environment. So, they are definitely playing the biggest role.
We've been trying for several days to activate it, Terrell said.Nothing we've been doing has been successful in securing the leak so far.
Engineers around the world are working together with BP to devise tasarlamak other ways to activate the valve and contain ihtiva etmek the leak.
What other ways are they trying to stop the oil from leaking?
In addition to ek olarak using ROVs to try to plug the leak, BP announced on Tuesday that they plan to begin drilling a separate relief well to redirect some of the leaking oil.
According to news reports, this $100 million operation will take pressure off the blown-out well, and BP plans to begin drilling Thursday regardless (s.) bakmayarak of whether the response team reaches the valve at the well's head to shut off the leaking oil.
How are they trying to clean up the oil?
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, more than 29,280 feet (8,925 meters) of boom has been assigned saptamak to surround çevirmek and contain the spill, and 49 response vessels gemi are being used,including kapsayan skimmers yarış kayığı,tugs römorkör,barges mavna and other recovery kurtarma vessels.
Engineers are also working on building dome kubbe that could be placed over the leaks to cordon off kordonla çevirmek the area and collect the oily water. The domes, which would reach all the way to the ocean floor, would be placed over each leak, essentially closing off the area, and inside, large tubes would funnel akıtmak the oil to the water's surface for collection by clean-up crews.
The specifications ayrıntılar of the collection domes are still being worked out çözülmek, and engineers are figuring out halletmek how to employ them effectively and safely.
Collection domes have been used in the past, but in shallower daha sığ waters, Terrell said.So, they've never been used at depths of 5,000 feet (1,524 meters).