Out of all the crazy theories and postulations over current events, mine included, this one takes the cake .
This gentleman has found a blob-like organism complete with a " parabolic wave system ", lol, a pulsating vein structure, and an egg-sac. It also has a " crust-like " covering...can't think about what is similar to a crust, anyway,....he has also found " alien fire bugs " that are eating the metal. His theories range from : BP drilled into a radioactive meteorite, to something about a French submarine carrying cargo of some mysterious substamce that can " morph " seawater and another "compound " into gold, which in turn " morphed " into " creatures " , which then changed the " magnetism ",...of what I haven't the slightest,lol,....and " sailors ears were bleeding ".....sounds horrible.
Another fine example of : What we want to see, we will.
For some reason,....many people cannot use logic to deduce that if something was required to be hidden from the public view, it would not be shown to the public.
Same logic for the " gauges ".....the gauges that are shown on the ROV camera views , are nothing but hydraulic gauges for various parts of the system,....do you really think that this whole operation would be resting on very crucial pressure readings, read through a video camera under a great depth,...off of dial gauges...? ...They might as well be in Command Central looking at the computer moniter with a telescope turned backwards.
The real pressures are read with pressure transducers that are placed around the well riser and other parts of the BOP stack. Pressures are also read at all points in the system from a-b, from the pumps to the intersection point of the relief well.
Really, it is not the things we know that can be detrimental, ..it is the things we think we know..
I would like include something a friend sent to me.
" Remember not to let yourself become jaded when all the misapplications of the science are weighed in. It is the application of the science when inappropriate or the lack of application of the science when it is appropriate that causes distress in the reasonable man."
--My Friend
...anywho, for some comic relief, watch these two vids.
......Aaaand the fire-lizard creature...(cat/dog)...?...lol.....Idk....
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Dynamically positioned drilling rigs
So, not that I have any experience in the " oil patch ", or the engineering of Dynamically Positioned deep-water drilling rigs, but I was looking over the design of the Deepwater Horizon after going back over the course of events in the sinking of the platform. As it's come out in the news, any of the normal measures to prevent gases from a blowout from invading the engine rooms where the generators are found, and "supercharging" the generators to the point of making them explode , were shut off. There is normally a series of alarms and switches that would normally trip and trigger preventive measures, ie, closing of intake vents and such .Of course, it has been acknowledged in the media as well, that these alarms were turned off by the personnel on the platform. One could say that had the alarms not been de-activated, that the sinking of the platform and subsequent almost uncontrollable blowout could have been avoided.
After the initial explosion, the well continued to fuel the ensuing fire, then the platform sank. Basically, the tanks that are normally are flooded/flushed with water to provide ballast/and total depth below the water-line, had overheated, and been cooled by surrounding vessels spraying seawater, that eventually, the metal expanded and contracted enough to allow water to invade and sink the rig.
What's wrong with this picture...?
Why would a giant platform designed for all practical purposes, to be able to slowly sink into the water at varying depths, but still maintain buoyancy ....to slowly burn and sink..? Normally...you would think that there are many redundancies built into any type of complicated structure/machine that comprises a drilling rig in it's totality. . .but wait...there is cost efficiency analysis to be taken into consideration as well.
How expensive is how safe ?
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp2000/power_foss.pdf
Is it cheaper to locate backup generators next to the generators they are supposed to be " backing up "..?
....Yes.
Especially when the alarms are shut off.
Then there is no redundancy in power re-routing in case of failure either
....from the next layer of this onion...
POWERPLANT SESSION :The Deepwater Horizon
A Unique 10,000-ft Water Depth Dynamically
Positioned Semisubmersible Drilling Vessel
M. W. Cole, Cole Engineering, Inc.
C. V. Wolff, R&B Falcon
J. J. May, R&B Falcon
D. R. Weisinger, Vastar Resources, Inc
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp1999/Pphoriz.pdf
" Loss of an engine room "
" Loss of an engine room with its associated diesel engine/generator set and switchboard
due to fire or flooding will cause loss of the thruster and the 480V bus loads assigned to
that switchboard. "
Given that dynamically positioned rigs use GPS to calculate position and ,the vector-specific angle and momentum of thrust applied at the bottom of the platform, there are the problems of loss of positioning information due to solar activities, but in the event of a loss of one generator from explosive failure, having them all together prevents any emergency power from being diverted to ballast pumps in the case the event eventually destroys all generators in the area, ...which it did.
So why would an engineering firm and oil company spend so much for a piece of equipment, then allow engineers to be constrained by costs, when they are designing the system, especially considering it doesn't add that much to alter the placement of various components in a system, depending on the layout....but a square should be pretty easy...compared to something like an assembly line.
So why would emergency thruster control and ballast operation not be designed into the system in the event of an evacuation of the platform when they operate on real-time information from satellites to keep them stably located in the first place...?
It would seem if you can operate a satellite from Earth, you could operate an oil rig from this planet too......just in the event of an emergency .
Here is some great info on the deepwater Horizon and DP rigs in general.
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp1999/Sessions.PDF
After the initial explosion, the well continued to fuel the ensuing fire, then the platform sank. Basically, the tanks that are normally are flooded/flushed with water to provide ballast/and total depth below the water-line, had overheated, and been cooled by surrounding vessels spraying seawater, that eventually, the metal expanded and contracted enough to allow water to invade and sink the rig.
What's wrong with this picture...?
Why would a giant platform designed for all practical purposes, to be able to slowly sink into the water at varying depths, but still maintain buoyancy ....to slowly burn and sink..? Normally...you would think that there are many redundancies built into any type of complicated structure/machine that comprises a drilling rig in it's totality. . .but wait...there is cost efficiency analysis to be taken into consideration as well.
How expensive is how safe ?
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp2000/power_foss.pdf
Is it cheaper to locate backup generators next to the generators they are supposed to be " backing up "..?
....Yes.
Especially when the alarms are shut off.
Then there is no redundancy in power re-routing in case of failure either
....from the next layer of this onion...
POWERPLANT SESSION :The Deepwater Horizon
A Unique 10,000-ft Water Depth Dynamically
Positioned Semisubmersible Drilling Vessel
M. W. Cole, Cole Engineering, Inc.
C. V. Wolff, R&B Falcon
J. J. May, R&B Falcon
D. R. Weisinger, Vastar Resources, Inc
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp1999/Pphoriz.pdf
" Loss of an engine room "
" Loss of an engine room with its associated diesel engine/generator set and switchboard
due to fire or flooding will cause loss of the thruster and the 480V bus loads assigned to
that switchboard. "
Given that dynamically positioned rigs use GPS to calculate position and ,the vector-specific angle and momentum of thrust applied at the bottom of the platform, there are the problems of loss of positioning information due to solar activities, but in the event of a loss of one generator from explosive failure, having them all together prevents any emergency power from being diverted to ballast pumps in the case the event eventually destroys all generators in the area, ...which it did.
So why would an engineering firm and oil company spend so much for a piece of equipment, then allow engineers to be constrained by costs, when they are designing the system, especially considering it doesn't add that much to alter the placement of various components in a system, depending on the layout....but a square should be pretty easy...compared to something like an assembly line.
So why would emergency thruster control and ballast operation not be designed into the system in the event of an evacuation of the platform when they operate on real-time information from satellites to keep them stably located in the first place...?
It would seem if you can operate a satellite from Earth, you could operate an oil rig from this planet too......just in the event of an emergency .
Here is some great info on the deepwater Horizon and DP rigs in general.
http://www.dynamic-positioning.com/dp1999/Sessions.PDF
Sunday, August 8, 2010
What happened to the mud and cement ?
Hello all, sorry I haven't been around so much, I have been busy with a new project.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When BP released this photo on their website, the blogosphere was on it, like butter on an English muffin...in all the nooks and crannies.
Ask yourself this :
Why was the "leg" of mud considered to have "killed" the well...measured from the ship to around 5k' down the well.... , and not from the wellhead down.?
When they had originally stated the beginning of the base oil injectivity testing, they also stated that the mud pumping operation would probably go on for a little while, the mud was going to be the type that does not clog rock and formation pores too much, ie:, a non-caking mud with small particle size( I am sure after all the press coverage, you know that they use anything and everything to plug cracked formations...sawdust...coconut husks...shredded tires....etc etc..), specifically to allow for the mud to travel further .
One of the things I noticed, and I'm sure a few others did too, was that the mud pumping operations suddenly proceeded before the estimated original time for the operation to start. If you lok at the chart below, you can see on the right-hand side, the projected ideal gradients for the injectivity parameters, ie: the pump pressures, mud rates of injection, pressures at various points in the system,..the gentle arcs plotted on the right-hand side are the "ideal" plots.....the two thicker lines on the left-hand side of the chart are the actual pressures of the testing done.
PT-3K-2 was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the kill line.
PT-C was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the choke line.
PT_B301 was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the bottom of the old BOP.
(PT stands for pressure transducer, it's what is really used to measure flows in the pipes, the yellow boxes you have seen for weeks with wire frame handles)
Looks like PT-B301 flat-lined at 5841 psi, while PT-3k-2 211 was at 5161 and dropping @ 369.8 bbl of 13.25 ppg mud.
Look at the left side over the guy's head.
" PT-B301 flat-lined at around 5841 psi "
So if the pressure needed from the pumps would steadily decrease as the leg of mud gets established, then we would see an arc plotted. If the pump pressure flat-lined at the same time the mud volume was plotting an arc...would this not indicate a rather large loss...?
Normally , a "static kill: would be considered to be successful when a mud leg is established in the wellbore...it was not...it was from a little ways down the bore...and all the way up to the surface. On top of that, they never did reach true static equilibrium, they were gradually pumping mud the entire time, the rate of loss was determined to be around 1b/minute.
I think that the test itself is what could cause problems..hypothetically speaking,...the leak location was established by the fact that they could not get to a hydrostatic equilibrium,ie: the point where you could saw the entire stack off and nothing would come out....if there were a shallow leak, and fluids were forced through it, this in itself, would make them larger due to erosive qualities of the flow. So really...the only way to see where the oil and gas would vent in the surrounding area would be to shut the well in....but at the same time, by doing so, you could cause larger pathways for the leak. I look at this like stress testing materials. You never stress test something...and then use it in the manufacture of a product, for you destroy what you observe in the course of the test. So I think they might have realized, that by the fact they had to continuously pump mud into the well, without ever reaching equilibrium, that that mud pumped IN , would represent roughly the mud lost, per pore counts and such. So maybe the sudden switch to cementing could be attributed to the "pucker factor" of perhaps causing a larger fluid migration path than before...?
So after the cementing operations they tell us in the briefing that they pump approx 200 bbls into the first formation...just the first....they said they had established a leg of cement reaching 5000', from the seafloor, to the bottom of the leg. So there is a shallow leak that has been identified, it also would explain all the venting we are seeing on the ROV cams, BTW, there are 3 cams on each ROV, we get to only see 1..
So let's next look at the reworked diagram from Alex Higgins' blog ( Which I would highly recommend ) so we can get an idea of exactly how far they have really gotten in the overall operation of shutting this well down for good.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/
....so, my wild guess, is that they will have to stop cementing from the top. This will leave a long length of wellbore with trapped fluids. They will intersect the wellbore from the bottom and start to slowly squeeze in mud from the bottom, this will, in my mind, produce a rather large amount of fluid and gases to vent from the deeper layers again. If you envision an oil-filled shock absorber with a hole/holes, getting compressed, than you can visualize what happens during this process. The oil in the wellbore has to go somewhere....
I'm thinking about the mud "bubblers" in Yellowstone, and how the bubble would travel up through the fluid, granted THAT mud is a fairly homogeneous blend so travel is smooth, for the most part. Now I think about what is the likely composition of what the ocean floor is made of where we see this little "volcano". Probably mainly silt, some larger particulates, maybe even bone fragments...and microbial mucous, natural polymer precursors ...same snot we see floating around, I think it's refereed to as " marine snow ", and probably a little asphalt. So if it's traveling up through a thick layer of softer materials, then we would tend to see eruptions as these "bubbles" came up through the muck, as opposed to a steady stream of fluids/gas, like what would be coming through a crack in a rock formation. I think it's natural that we will continue to see more fluids coming up, especially when they start squeezing from the bottom. Somebody over at the Drum( a reservoir engineer in the field ) said that the mud they had used indicated a very porous formation of sandstone around 13k' down.
We'll see, but I think anything migrating up through the muck won't create a pathway, the muck will close the channel behind the fluids/gas.
I am keeping my hopes high.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When BP released this photo on their website, the blogosphere was on it, like butter on an English muffin...in all the nooks and crannies.
Ask yourself this :
Why was the "leg" of mud considered to have "killed" the well...measured from the ship to around 5k' down the well.... , and not from the wellhead down.?
When they had originally stated the beginning of the base oil injectivity testing, they also stated that the mud pumping operation would probably go on for a little while, the mud was going to be the type that does not clog rock and formation pores too much, ie:, a non-caking mud with small particle size( I am sure after all the press coverage, you know that they use anything and everything to plug cracked formations...sawdust...coconut husks...shredded tires....etc etc..), specifically to allow for the mud to travel further .
One of the things I noticed, and I'm sure a few others did too, was that the mud pumping operations suddenly proceeded before the estimated original time for the operation to start. If you lok at the chart below, you can see on the right-hand side, the projected ideal gradients for the injectivity parameters, ie: the pump pressures, mud rates of injection, pressures at various points in the system,..the gentle arcs plotted on the right-hand side are the "ideal" plots.....the two thicker lines on the left-hand side of the chart are the actual pressures of the testing done.
PT-3K-2 was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the kill line.
PT-C was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the choke line.
PT_B301 was the pressure at the gauge monitoring the bottom of the old BOP.
(PT stands for pressure transducer, it's what is really used to measure flows in the pipes, the yellow boxes you have seen for weeks with wire frame handles)
Looks like PT-B301 flat-lined at 5841 psi, while PT-3k-2 211 was at 5161 and dropping @ 369.8 bbl of 13.25 ppg mud.
Look at the left side over the guy's head.
" PT-B301 flat-lined at around 5841 psi "
So if the pressure needed from the pumps would steadily decrease as the leg of mud gets established, then we would see an arc plotted. If the pump pressure flat-lined at the same time the mud volume was plotting an arc...would this not indicate a rather large loss...?
Normally , a "static kill: would be considered to be successful when a mud leg is established in the wellbore...it was not...it was from a little ways down the bore...and all the way up to the surface. On top of that, they never did reach true static equilibrium, they were gradually pumping mud the entire time, the rate of loss was determined to be around 1b/minute.
I think that the test itself is what could cause problems..hypothetically speaking,...the leak location was established by the fact that they could not get to a hydrostatic equilibrium,ie: the point where you could saw the entire stack off and nothing would come out....if there were a shallow leak, and fluids were forced through it, this in itself, would make them larger due to erosive qualities of the flow. So really...the only way to see where the oil and gas would vent in the surrounding area would be to shut the well in....but at the same time, by doing so, you could cause larger pathways for the leak. I look at this like stress testing materials. You never stress test something...and then use it in the manufacture of a product, for you destroy what you observe in the course of the test. So I think they might have realized, that by the fact they had to continuously pump mud into the well, without ever reaching equilibrium, that that mud pumped IN , would represent roughly the mud lost, per pore counts and such. So maybe the sudden switch to cementing could be attributed to the "pucker factor" of perhaps causing a larger fluid migration path than before...?
So after the cementing operations they tell us in the briefing that they pump approx 200 bbls into the first formation...just the first....they said they had established a leg of cement reaching 5000', from the seafloor, to the bottom of the leg. So there is a shallow leak that has been identified, it also would explain all the venting we are seeing on the ROV cams, BTW, there are 3 cams on each ROV, we get to only see 1..
So let's next look at the reworked diagram from Alex Higgins' blog ( Which I would highly recommend ) so we can get an idea of exactly how far they have really gotten in the overall operation of shutting this well down for good.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/
....so, my wild guess, is that they will have to stop cementing from the top. This will leave a long length of wellbore with trapped fluids. They will intersect the wellbore from the bottom and start to slowly squeeze in mud from the bottom, this will, in my mind, produce a rather large amount of fluid and gases to vent from the deeper layers again. If you envision an oil-filled shock absorber with a hole/holes, getting compressed, than you can visualize what happens during this process. The oil in the wellbore has to go somewhere....
I'm thinking about the mud "bubblers" in Yellowstone, and how the bubble would travel up through the fluid, granted THAT mud is a fairly homogeneous blend so travel is smooth, for the most part. Now I think about what is the likely composition of what the ocean floor is made of where we see this little "volcano". Probably mainly silt, some larger particulates, maybe even bone fragments...and microbial mucous, natural polymer precursors ...same snot we see floating around, I think it's refereed to as " marine snow ", and probably a little asphalt. So if it's traveling up through a thick layer of softer materials, then we would tend to see eruptions as these "bubbles" came up through the muck, as opposed to a steady stream of fluids/gas, like what would be coming through a crack in a rock formation. I think it's natural that we will continue to see more fluids coming up, especially when they start squeezing from the bottom. Somebody over at the Drum( a reservoir engineer in the field ) said that the mud they had used indicated a very porous formation of sandstone around 13k' down.
We'll see, but I think anything migrating up through the muck won't create a pathway, the muck will close the channel behind the fluids/gas.
I am keeping my hopes high.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Recent Coronal Mass Ejections predicted in 2006
Been a little hot lately hasn't it..? Getting sunburned a little quicker recently..? I'm sure you have been reading about it, power grids having problems....Russia under intense heat...etc,
Seen this video of the beaching in Pakistan, from maybe 2 weeks ago...? This is what happens when the magnetic fields start to shift from the Sun's influence. We will probably see a lot more of this.
.....Here's the link to the NASA site with the warnings :
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html
...............ok..This article was written almost 5 years ago.
03.15.06 Researchers say a storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. It's official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.
Like the quiet before a storm.
Recently researchers announced that a storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
That was a solar maximum. The Space Age was just beginning: Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957 and Explorer 1 (the first US satellite) in Jan. 1958. In 1958 you couldn't tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn't exist. Even so, people knew something big was happening when Northern Lights were sighted three times in Mexico. A similar maximum now would be noticed by its effect on cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other modern technologies.
Dikpati's prediction is unprecedented. In nearly-two centuries since the 11-year sunspot cycle was discovered, scientists have struggled to predict the size of future maxima--and failed. Solar maxima can be intense, as in 1958, or barely detectable, as in 1805, obeying no obvious pattern.
The key to the mystery, Dikpati realized years ago, is a conveyor belt on the sun.
We have something similar here on Earth--the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, popularized in the sci-fi movie The Day After Tomorrow. It is a network of currents that carry water and heat from ocean to ocean--see the diagram below. In the movie, the Conveyor Belt stopped and threw the world's weather into chaos.
The sun's conveyor belt is a current, not of water, but of electrically-conducting gas. It flows in a loop from the sun's equator to the poles and back again. Just as the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt controls weather on Earth, this solar conveyor belt controls weather on the sun. Specifically, it controls the sunspot cycle.
Solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) explains: "First, remember what sunspots are--tangled knots of magnetism generated by the sun's inner dynamo. A typical sunspot exists for just a few weeks. Then it decays, leaving behind a 'corpse' of weak magnetic fields."
Enter the conveyor belt.
"The top of the conveyor belt skims the surface of the sun, sweeping up the magnetic fields of old, dead sunspots. The 'corpses' are dragged down at the poles to a depth of 200,000 km where the sun's magnetic dynamo can amplify them. Once the corpses (magnetic knots) are reincarnated (amplified), they become buoyant and float back to the surface." Presto--new sunspots!
All this happens with massive slowness. "It takes about 40 years for the belt to complete one loop," says Hathaway. The speed varies "anywhere from a 50-year pace (slow) to a 30-year pace (fast)."
When the belt is turning "fast," it means that lots of magnetic fields are being swept up, and that a future sunspot cycle is going to be intense. This is a basis for forecasting: "The belt was turning fast in 1986-1996," says Hathaway. "Old magnetic fields swept up then should re-appear as big sunspots in 2010-2011."
Like most experts in the field, Hathaway has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Dikpati's forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.
"History shows that big sunspot cycles 'ramp up' faster than small ones," he says. "I expect to see the first sunspots of the next cycle appear in late 2006 or 2007--and Solar Max to be underway by 2010 or 2011."
Who's right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming.
Feature Author: Dr. Tony Phillips
Feature Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips
Feature Production Credit: Science@NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/10mar_stormwarning.html
-------------------------------------------
Below are the various types of warnings and possible effects from solar storms.
SUMMARY: 245 MHz Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Daily summary of radio interference which can affect critical search and rescue frequencies.
Report of Solar Geophysical Activity (RSGA) Forecasts and Summaries The primary daily report prepared by SWPC. It provides a summary and analysis of solar and geomagnetic activity during the previous 24 hours, the most recent solar indices, and a forecast of activity and indices for the next 3 days.
Geophysical Alert Message (WWV) Forecasts and Summaries Issued every 3 hours (at 0000, 0300, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800, and 2100 UTC). Updates are more frequent when activity warrants. Provides information about the current and predicted solar terrestrial conditions.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 20 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Minor system effects.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 30 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Weak power grid fluctuations, minor satellite operation impact. Possible high-latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 50 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products High-latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora. Possible voltage problems, satellite surface charging, HF and low-frequency communication degraded, possible aurora near tropics.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-Index of 100 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Grid system can collapse, extensive satellite surface charging, extended degraded. HF communication and low-frequency navigation.
SUMMARY: 10 cm Radio Burst Solar Radio Emissions Proxy of solar EUV emission, important for satellite drag.
ALERT: Electron 2 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Particles Possible differential charging and bulk charging effects on satellites.
Special Announcement News for all Users Information concerning SWPC data, products, and services. User Notes (SWPC's quarterly newsletter). E-mail notification will be sent when the latest version is posted to our web site.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 5 Geomagnetic Storm Products Weak power grid fluctuations, minor satellite operations impact.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 6 Geomagnetic Storm Products High latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 6 Geomagnetic Storm Products High latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 7 Geomagnetic Storm Products Power system voltage effects, satellite surface charging, HF radio, mid-latitude aurora.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 7 Geomagnetic Storm Products Power system voltage effects, satellite surface charging, HF radio, mid-latitude aurora.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 8 Geomagnetic Storm Products Voltage problems, satellite surface charging, HF and low-frequency communication degraded, possible aurora near tropics.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 9 Geomagnetic Storm Products Grid System can collapse, extensive satellite surface charging, extended degraded. HF communication and low-frequency navigation.
SUMMARY: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse Geomagnetic Storm Products Marks the possible beginning of a geomagnetic storm.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Infrequent effects on HF through polar regions and satellite operations.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Degraded HF at polar regions and navigation position errors, satellite effects on imaging systems and solar panel currents, significant radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Degraded HF at polar regions and navigation position errors, satellite effects on imaging systems and solar panel currents, significant radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 10,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Blackout of HF through the polar regions and navigation position errors over several days, satellite effects degraded imaging systems and memory device problems, high radiation risk to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 10,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Blackout of HF through the polar regions and navigation position errors over several days, satellite effects degraded imaging systems and memory device problems, high radiation risk to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products No HF in the polar regions and position errors make navigation operations extremely difficult, loss of some satellites and memory impacts cause loss of control, unavoidable high radiation risk for astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products No HF in the polar regions and position errors make navigation operations extremely difficult, loss of some satellites and memory impacts cause loss of control, unavoidable high radiation risk for astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
WARNING: Proton 100 MeV Integral Flux above 1 pfu expected Solar Radiation Storm Products Possible minor impacts on HF through polar regions and satellite operations.
Solar & Geophysical Activity Summary (SGAS) Forecasts and Summaries A daily brief list of solar and geophysical events for the previous UTC day.
WARNING: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse expected Geomagnetic Storm Products Marks the possible beginning of an expected geomagnetic storm.
Space Weather Bulletin Advisories Issued when conditions occur that are of interest to the public.
Space Weather Outlook Advisories Issued Tuesdays, general descriptions of conditions during the past week and an outlook for the next 7 days.
ALERT: Type II Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Occur in loose association with major solar flares and are indicative of a shock wave moving through the solar atmosphere.
ALERT: Type IV Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Associated with some major solar flare events beginning 10 to 20 minutes after the flare maximum, and can last for hours.
Preliminary Report and Forecast of Solar Geophysical Data (The Weekly) Forecasts and Summaries Space Weather highlights from the previous week and an outlook for the next 27 days. It also includes tables and plots, data, activity, and reports. Note: Email notification will be sent when the latest version is posted to our web site.
ALERT: X-ray Flux exceeded M5 Radio Blackout Products Loss of HF and degradation of low frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded M5 Radio Blackout Products Loss of HF and degradation of low frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X1 Radio Blackout Products Wide area loss of HF and low-frequency navigation signals for one hour.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X10 Radio Blackout Products Lost HF and outages of low-frequency navigation signals for one to two hours.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X20 Radio Blackout Products Complete HF blackouts and outages on low-frequency navigation signals for several hours
Seen this video of the beaching in Pakistan, from maybe 2 weeks ago...? This is what happens when the magnetic fields start to shift from the Sun's influence. We will probably see a lot more of this.
.....Here's the link to the NASA site with the warnings :
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html
...............ok..This article was written almost 5 years ago.
Like the quiet before a storm.
Recently researchers announced that a storm is coming--the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
 |
Right: Intense auroras over Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1958.
The key to the mystery, Dikpati realized years ago, is a conveyor belt on the sun.
We have something similar here on Earth--the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, popularized in the sci-fi movie The Day After Tomorrow. It is a network of currents that carry water and heat from ocean to ocean--see the diagram below. In the movie, the Conveyor Belt stopped and threw the world's weather into chaos.
 |
Above: Earth's Great Ocean Conveyor Belt.
Solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) explains: "First, remember what sunspots are--tangled knots of magnetism generated by the sun's inner dynamo. A typical sunspot exists for just a few weeks. Then it decays, leaving behind a 'corpse' of weak magnetic fields."
Enter the conveyor belt.
 |
Right: The sun's great conveyor belt. [Larger image]
When the belt is turning "fast," it means that lots of magnetic fields are being swept up, and that a future sunspot cycle is going to be intense. This is a basis for forecasting: "The belt was turning fast in 1986-1996," says Hathaway. "Old magnetic fields swept up then should re-appear as big sunspots in 2010-2011."
Like most experts in the field, Hathaway has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Dikpati's forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.
"History shows that big sunspot cycles 'ramp up' faster than small ones," he says. "I expect to see the first sunspots of the next cycle appear in late 2006 or 2007--and Solar Max to be underway by 2010 or 2011."
Who's right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming.
| More Information |
| Solar Minimum Has Arrived -- In 2006, the sunspot cycle has hit bottom. Scientists Issue Unprecedented Forecast of Next Sunspot Cycle -- NCAR press release. Scientists Gaze Inside Sun, Predict Strength of the Next Solar Cycle -- NASA press release. Who's Afraid of a Solar Flare? -- (Science@NASA) Solar activity can be surprisingly good for astronauts. |
Feature Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips
Feature Production Credit: Science@NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/10mar_stormwarning.html
-------------------------------------------
Below are the various types of warnings and possible effects from solar storms.
SUMMARY: 245 MHz Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Daily summary of radio interference which can affect critical search and rescue frequencies.
Report of Solar Geophysical Activity (RSGA) Forecasts and Summaries The primary daily report prepared by SWPC. It provides a summary and analysis of solar and geomagnetic activity during the previous 24 hours, the most recent solar indices, and a forecast of activity and indices for the next 3 days.
Geophysical Alert Message (WWV) Forecasts and Summaries Issued every 3 hours (at 0000, 0300, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800, and 2100 UTC). Updates are more frequent when activity warrants. Provides information about the current and predicted solar terrestrial conditions.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 20 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Minor system effects.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 30 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Weak power grid fluctuations, minor satellite operation impact. Possible high-latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-index of 50 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products High-latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora. Possible voltage problems, satellite surface charging, HF and low-frequency communication degraded, possible aurora near tropics.
WATCH: Geomagnetic A-Index of 100 or greater predicted Geomagnetic Storm Products Grid system can collapse, extensive satellite surface charging, extended degraded. HF communication and low-frequency navigation.
SUMMARY: 10 cm Radio Burst Solar Radio Emissions Proxy of solar EUV emission, important for satellite drag.
ALERT: Electron 2 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Particles Possible differential charging and bulk charging effects on satellites.
Special Announcement News for all Users Information concerning SWPC data, products, and services. User Notes (SWPC's quarterly newsletter). E-mail notification will be sent when the latest version is posted to our web site.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 5 Geomagnetic Storm Products Weak power grid fluctuations, minor satellite operations impact.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 6 Geomagnetic Storm Products High latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 6 Geomagnetic Storm Products High latitude power systems affected, satellite drag effect, high-latitude HF radio, high-latitude aurora.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 7 Geomagnetic Storm Products Power system voltage effects, satellite surface charging, HF radio, mid-latitude aurora.
WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 7 Geomagnetic Storm Products Power system voltage effects, satellite surface charging, HF radio, mid-latitude aurora.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 8 Geomagnetic Storm Products Voltage problems, satellite surface charging, HF and low-frequency communication degraded, possible aurora near tropics.
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 9 Geomagnetic Storm Products Grid System can collapse, extensive satellite surface charging, extended degraded. HF communication and low-frequency navigation.
SUMMARY: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse Geomagnetic Storm Products Marks the possible beginning of a geomagnetic storm.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Infrequent effects on HF through polar regions and satellite operations.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Degraded HF at polar regions and navigation position errors, satellite effects on imaging systems and solar panel currents, significant radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Degraded HF at polar regions and navigation position errors, satellite effects on imaging systems and solar panel currents, significant radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 10,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Blackout of HF through the polar regions and navigation position errors over several days, satellite effects degraded imaging systems and memory device problems, high radiation risk to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 10,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products Blackout of HF through the polar regions and navigation position errors over several days, satellite effects degraded imaging systems and memory device problems, high radiation risk to astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
ALERT: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products No HF in the polar regions and position errors make navigation operations extremely difficult, loss of some satellites and memory impacts cause loss of control, unavoidable high radiation risk for astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
SUMMARY: Proton Event 10 MeV Integral Flux exceeded 100,000 pfu Solar Radiation Storm Products No HF in the polar regions and position errors make navigation operations extremely difficult, loss of some satellites and memory impacts cause loss of control, unavoidable high radiation risk for astronauts on EVA and high-latitude aircraft passengers.
WARNING: Proton 100 MeV Integral Flux above 1 pfu expected Solar Radiation Storm Products Possible minor impacts on HF through polar regions and satellite operations.
Solar & Geophysical Activity Summary (SGAS) Forecasts and Summaries A daily brief list of solar and geophysical events for the previous UTC day.
WARNING: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse expected Geomagnetic Storm Products Marks the possible beginning of an expected geomagnetic storm.
Space Weather Bulletin Advisories Issued when conditions occur that are of interest to the public.
Space Weather Outlook Advisories Issued Tuesdays, general descriptions of conditions during the past week and an outlook for the next 7 days.
ALERT: Type II Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Occur in loose association with major solar flares and are indicative of a shock wave moving through the solar atmosphere.
ALERT: Type IV Radio Emission Solar Radio Emissions Associated with some major solar flare events beginning 10 to 20 minutes after the flare maximum, and can last for hours.
Preliminary Report and Forecast of Solar Geophysical Data (The Weekly) Forecasts and Summaries Space Weather highlights from the previous week and an outlook for the next 27 days. It also includes tables and plots, data, activity, and reports. Note: Email notification will be sent when the latest version is posted to our web site.
ALERT: X-ray Flux exceeded M5 Radio Blackout Products Loss of HF and degradation of low frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded M5 Radio Blackout Products Loss of HF and degradation of low frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X1 Radio Blackout Products Wide area loss of HF and low-frequency navigation signals for one hour.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X10 Radio Blackout Products Lost HF and outages of low-frequency navigation signals for one to two hours.
SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded X20 Radio Blackout Products Complete HF blackouts and outages on low-frequency navigation signals for several hours
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Let's hear it from a doctor....
An excerpt from today's Huffington Post, confirming the things I have been saying about COREXIT products and how they are becoming a new vector for infections, ala the article I wrote yesterday, but also the other articles I have been writing for some time now.
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/emoilgateem-bp-and-all-th_b_667709.html
The official story does not match the reality that I saw from the Cessna or have heard from people I have met during community visits since the well was temporarily sealed - and ever since I first arrived in early May. Public health is a huge concern - and with good reason.
BP has created Frankenstein in its Gulf laboratory: an oil-dispersant chemical stew that so far has contaminated over 44,000 square miles of ocean and caused internal bleeding and hemorrhaging in workers and dolphins alike, according to Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the EPA, who recently blew the whistle on the industry-government cover up. BP has sprayed dispersants steadily in the Gulf with Coast Guard approval from the beginning - under the sea, on the surface, offshore, near shore, in inland waters, at night, during the day - despite a public uproar to cease and desist.
The dispersants used in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol. Solvents dissolve oil, grease, and rubber. Spill responders have told me that the hard rubber impellors in their engines and the soft rubber bushings on their outboard motor pumps are falling apart and need frequent replacement. They say the plastic corks used to float the absorbent booms during skimming operations dissolve after a week of use. They say the hard epoxy resin on and below the waterline of their fiberglass boats is also dissolving and chipping away. Divers have told me that they have had to replace the soft rubber o-rings on their gear after dives in the Gulf and that the oil-chemical stew eats its way into even the Hazmat dive suits.
Given this evidence, it should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to people, something the medical community has long known. In Generations at Risk, medical doctor Ted Schettler and others warn that solvents can rapidly enter the human body: They evaporate in air and are easily inhaled, they penetrate skin easily, and they cross the placenta into fetuses. For example, 2-butoxyethanol is a human health hazard substance: It is a fetal toxin and it breaks down blood cells, causing blood and kidney disorders.
I suspect that the oil-chemical stew is likely the culprit behind the strange rashes reported by people across the Gulf - rashes that break out into deep blisters on legs or repeated peeling on hands. Stories accompany the rashes, stories of handling dead sea turtles, wading or swimming in the Gulf, or washing clothes of spill responders. Medical doctors are diagnosing rashes as staph infections or scabies, but the rashes are not responding to medical treatment as they would if the causation was biological instead of chemical.
Blisters and rashes experienced by fisher and Venice, Louisiana, Councilwoman Kindra Arneson are widespread across the Gulf. Rashes are not responding to treatment for staph or scabies. The cause may be chemical, not biological. 2010 Kindra Arneson.
Cindy Feinberg and her family visited Ft. Walton, Florida, on vacation in mid June when the "ocean was full of tar" and crews were picking up tar balls on the beach. The day after swimming in the Gulf - people were told it was safe, her palms became fiery red and flaked and peeled repeatedly for several days. Other people have shown me similar rashes that have lingered for months. June 18, 2010. Cindy Feinberg.
In Sound Truth and Corporate Myths, I wrote of similar rashes and peeling skin experienced by Exxon Valdez spill responders, especially ones who used dispersants and other chemical solvents. Yet in the Gulf, many doctors are turning a blind eye to chemical causes, because BP insists that solvents "disappear" after only a day or two. Retired toxicologist and forensic chemist John Laseter disagrees. Laseter's long career includes evaluation of human health effects of some of the largest toxic chemical and petroleum releases into the environment in the United States and Europe. He also founded and ran Accu-Chem, a lab that analyzed blood work for criminal justice cases.
Laseter told me that solvents "solubilize" or become soluble in oil and remain a threat for up to two months. He said the oil-solvent mixture sticks on biological tissue - gills of fish, the organic film coating sand grains and raindrops - and can wreak havoc. He told me that the dispersants are "almost certainly" making the oil penetrate more deeply into the skin and could very well be causing the rashes in the Gulf. Other toxicologists confirm that dispersants amount to a "delivery system" for oil: the combination is worse for human and sea life than the oil or dispersant alone.
Yet all the president's men - the Coast Guard, OSHA, NIOSH, FDA, and the EPA (except the EPA whistleblower noted above), in keeping with the cover up, cannot seem to find any unsafe levels of oil or solvents in the air or water. But other people are.
For example, about a week after the oil started coming ashore in Alabama, the Mobile television station WKRG took samples of water and sand from Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Katrina Key, and Dauphin Island. The test was nothing fancy. The on-air reporter simply dipped a jar into the ocean and another into some surf water filling a sand pit dug by a small child. In the samples, oil was not visible in the water or the sand, but the chemist who analyzed them reported astonishingly high levels of oil ranging from 16 to 221 parts per million (ppm). Except for the Dauphin Island sample -- that one literally exploded in the lab before testing could be completed. The chemist thought maybe the exploding sample contained methane or 2-butoxyethanol.
There is also evidence of dangerous levels of oil in the air. A preliminary study commissioned in mid-July by Guardians of the Gulf, a community-based nonprofit organization in Orange Beach, Alabama, found that nightly air inversions - common in the area during the summer and fall - were trapping pollutants near the ground.
Total Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - including the carcinogen benzene, and oil vapors - reached 85 to 108 ppm at 9:00 a.m. but rapidly dropped to zero (or nondetectable) within half an hour as the sun burned through the inversion layer. (For comparison, the federal standard for 15-minute exposure to benzene is 5 ppm.) The EPA did find unsafe levels of VOCs once in early May, but pulled much of its early data, as I reported earlier.
Such high levels could explain the bout of respiratory problems, dizziness, nausea, sore throats, headaches, and ear bleeds that I have heard about from residents and health professionals from Houma, Louisiana, to Apalachicola, Florida. Even the oil industry knows that these chemicals are unsafe. As long ago as 1948, the American Petroleum Institute confirmed, "The only absolutely safe concentration for benzene is zero."
When we landed after our 2-hour flight, our pilot told us that she sometimes has to wipe an oily reddish film off the leading edges of her plane's wings after flying over the Gulf. Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathem documented similar oily films on planes he chartered for Gulf over-flights. Bonnie doesn't wear gloves when she wipes her plane. She showed me her hands -- red rash, blisters, and peeling palms.
If peeling palms are an indication of the oil-solvent stew, the reddish film on Bonnie's plane and others means that the stew is not only in the Gulf, it is in the rain clouds above the Gulf. And in the middle of hurricane season, this means the oil-solvent mix could rain down anywhere across the Gulf.
Why all this pretend in the Gulf by BP and all the president's men except the EPA whistleblower that oil and dispersants are not toxic? By comparison, last week in Calhoun County, Michigan, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured, spilling at least 19,500 barrels of oil. At least thirty families were temporarily relocated because of the stench and roads and beaches were closed. Health officials have warned people to stay away from the fumes and beaches, and to avoid swimming and fishing near oiled areas. "It's a very toxic and dangerous environment," Calhoun County health officer Jim Rutherford said.
If spilled oil is "toxic and dangerous" in Michigan, it's also toxic and dangerous in the Gulf. But in the Gulf, public officials have downplayed the health risk despite hard evidence of an epidemic of chemical illnesses related to, I believe, the oil-chemical stew.
The fact that the official story in the Gulf does not match what people are experiencing is more alarming to me than the oil disaster. How can our president hold BP accountable if he accepts - or worse is complicit in - the crime?
Correcting the false official story is the first step toward holding the criminal accountable to the law and lore of the land. If the government fails to hold the criminal accountable, as it did during the Exxon Valdez, then the people and environment will bear the costs of this avoidable tragedy.
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/emoilgateem-bp-and-all-th_b_667709.html
The official story does not match the reality that I saw from the Cessna or have heard from people I have met during community visits since the well was temporarily sealed - and ever since I first arrived in early May. Public health is a huge concern - and with good reason.
BP has created Frankenstein in its Gulf laboratory: an oil-dispersant chemical stew that so far has contaminated over 44,000 square miles of ocean and caused internal bleeding and hemorrhaging in workers and dolphins alike, according to Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the EPA, who recently blew the whistle on the industry-government cover up. BP has sprayed dispersants steadily in the Gulf with Coast Guard approval from the beginning - under the sea, on the surface, offshore, near shore, in inland waters, at night, during the day - despite a public uproar to cease and desist.
The dispersants used in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol. Solvents dissolve oil, grease, and rubber. Spill responders have told me that the hard rubber impellors in their engines and the soft rubber bushings on their outboard motor pumps are falling apart and need frequent replacement. They say the plastic corks used to float the absorbent booms during skimming operations dissolve after a week of use. They say the hard epoxy resin on and below the waterline of their fiberglass boats is also dissolving and chipping away. Divers have told me that they have had to replace the soft rubber o-rings on their gear after dives in the Gulf and that the oil-chemical stew eats its way into even the Hazmat dive suits.
Given this evidence, it should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to people, something the medical community has long known. In Generations at Risk, medical doctor Ted Schettler and others warn that solvents can rapidly enter the human body: They evaporate in air and are easily inhaled, they penetrate skin easily, and they cross the placenta into fetuses. For example, 2-butoxyethanol is a human health hazard substance: It is a fetal toxin and it breaks down blood cells, causing blood and kidney disorders.
I suspect that the oil-chemical stew is likely the culprit behind the strange rashes reported by people across the Gulf - rashes that break out into deep blisters on legs or repeated peeling on hands. Stories accompany the rashes, stories of handling dead sea turtles, wading or swimming in the Gulf, or washing clothes of spill responders. Medical doctors are diagnosing rashes as staph infections or scabies, but the rashes are not responding to medical treatment as they would if the causation was biological instead of chemical.
In Sound Truth and Corporate Myths, I wrote of similar rashes and peeling skin experienced by Exxon Valdez spill responders, especially ones who used dispersants and other chemical solvents. Yet in the Gulf, many doctors are turning a blind eye to chemical causes, because BP insists that solvents "disappear" after only a day or two. Retired toxicologist and forensic chemist John Laseter disagrees. Laseter's long career includes evaluation of human health effects of some of the largest toxic chemical and petroleum releases into the environment in the United States and Europe. He also founded and ran Accu-Chem, a lab that analyzed blood work for criminal justice cases.
Laseter told me that solvents "solubilize" or become soluble in oil and remain a threat for up to two months. He said the oil-solvent mixture sticks on biological tissue - gills of fish, the organic film coating sand grains and raindrops - and can wreak havoc. He told me that the dispersants are "almost certainly" making the oil penetrate more deeply into the skin and could very well be causing the rashes in the Gulf. Other toxicologists confirm that dispersants amount to a "delivery system" for oil: the combination is worse for human and sea life than the oil or dispersant alone.
Yet all the president's men - the Coast Guard, OSHA, NIOSH, FDA, and the EPA (except the EPA whistleblower noted above), in keeping with the cover up, cannot seem to find any unsafe levels of oil or solvents in the air or water. But other people are.
For example, about a week after the oil started coming ashore in Alabama, the Mobile television station WKRG took samples of water and sand from Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Katrina Key, and Dauphin Island. The test was nothing fancy. The on-air reporter simply dipped a jar into the ocean and another into some surf water filling a sand pit dug by a small child. In the samples, oil was not visible in the water or the sand, but the chemist who analyzed them reported astonishingly high levels of oil ranging from 16 to 221 parts per million (ppm). Except for the Dauphin Island sample -- that one literally exploded in the lab before testing could be completed. The chemist thought maybe the exploding sample contained methane or 2-butoxyethanol.
There is also evidence of dangerous levels of oil in the air. A preliminary study commissioned in mid-July by Guardians of the Gulf, a community-based nonprofit organization in Orange Beach, Alabama, found that nightly air inversions - common in the area during the summer and fall - were trapping pollutants near the ground.
Total Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - including the carcinogen benzene, and oil vapors - reached 85 to 108 ppm at 9:00 a.m. but rapidly dropped to zero (or nondetectable) within half an hour as the sun burned through the inversion layer. (For comparison, the federal standard for 15-minute exposure to benzene is 5 ppm.) The EPA did find unsafe levels of VOCs once in early May, but pulled much of its early data, as I reported earlier.
Such high levels could explain the bout of respiratory problems, dizziness, nausea, sore throats, headaches, and ear bleeds that I have heard about from residents and health professionals from Houma, Louisiana, to Apalachicola, Florida. Even the oil industry knows that these chemicals are unsafe. As long ago as 1948, the American Petroleum Institute confirmed, "The only absolutely safe concentration for benzene is zero."
When we landed after our 2-hour flight, our pilot told us that she sometimes has to wipe an oily reddish film off the leading edges of her plane's wings after flying over the Gulf. Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathem documented similar oily films on planes he chartered for Gulf over-flights. Bonnie doesn't wear gloves when she wipes her plane. She showed me her hands -- red rash, blisters, and peeling palms.
If peeling palms are an indication of the oil-solvent stew, the reddish film on Bonnie's plane and others means that the stew is not only in the Gulf, it is in the rain clouds above the Gulf. And in the middle of hurricane season, this means the oil-solvent mix could rain down anywhere across the Gulf.
Why all this pretend in the Gulf by BP and all the president's men except the EPA whistleblower that oil and dispersants are not toxic? By comparison, last week in Calhoun County, Michigan, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured, spilling at least 19,500 barrels of oil. At least thirty families were temporarily relocated because of the stench and roads and beaches were closed. Health officials have warned people to stay away from the fumes and beaches, and to avoid swimming and fishing near oiled areas. "It's a very toxic and dangerous environment," Calhoun County health officer Jim Rutherford said.
If spilled oil is "toxic and dangerous" in Michigan, it's also toxic and dangerous in the Gulf. But in the Gulf, public officials have downplayed the health risk despite hard evidence of an epidemic of chemical illnesses related to, I believe, the oil-chemical stew.
The fact that the official story in the Gulf does not match what people are experiencing is more alarming to me than the oil disaster. How can our president hold BP accountable if he accepts - or worse is complicit in - the crime?
Correcting the false official story is the first step toward holding the criminal accountable to the law and lore of the land. If the government fails to hold the criminal accountable, as it did during the Exxon Valdez, then the people and environment will bear the costs of this avoidable tragedy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)