Scientists say that even though it may be out of sight, oil found there could do significant harm to the strange creatures that dwell in the depths — tube worms, tiny crustaceans and mollusks, single-cell organisms and Halloween-scary fish with bulging eyes and skeletal frames. "Deep-sea animals, in general, tend to produce fewer offspring than shallower water animals, so if they are going to have a population impact, it may be more sensitive in deep water. There is also some evidence that deep-sea animals live longer than shallower water species, so the impact may stay around longer."
Scientists found oil on the sea floor as far as 80 miles away from the site of the spill. "It's kind of like having a blizzard where the snow comes in and covers everything." And the look of the oil, its state of degradation, the way it settled on freshly dead animals all made it unlikely that the crude was from the millions of gallons of oil that naturally seep into the Gulf from the sea bottom each year. Later this week, the oil will be tested for the chemical fingerprints that would conclusively link it to the BP spill.
Since the well was capped on July 15 after some 200 million gallons flowed into the Gulf, there have been signs of resilience on the surface and the shore. Sheens have disappeared, while some marshlands have shoots of green. This seeming recovery is likely a result of massive amounts of chemical dispersants, warm waters and a Gulf that is used to degrading massive amounts of oil, scientists say. Animal deaths also are far short of worst-case scenarios. But at the same time, a massive invisible plume of oil has been found under the surface, shifting scientists' concerns from what can be easily seen to what can't be. The oil "did not disappear. It sank."
For oil to sink, it must attach itself to materials that are heavier than water, such as detritus, flecks of mud, sands and other particles. Such materials are abundant in the Gulf in places where rivers, especially the Mississippi, flush mud and sand into the open sea. Oil also can sink as it ages and becomes more tar-like in a process known as weathering. Scientists also say the oil may be sinking because it was broken up into tiny droplets by dispersants, making the oil so small that it wasn't buoyant enough to rise. One problem with oil at the sea floor is that it will take longer to degrade because of cold temperatures in the deep.
Author Unknown
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.3 POTOSI, BOLIVIA
Yesterday -
9/16/10 -
5.0 COSTA RICA
5.8 TONGA
BRITAIN - Expert predicts 5.5 magnitude earthquake could hit London at any time. Britain is overdue a potentially devastating earthquake that could topple London's grandest landmarks, cause billions of pounds worth of damage and endanger scores of lives, a leading seismologist warned yesterday. A sub-sea fault under the Straits of Dover that has caused two large earthquakes in the past 700 years could strike again at any time, putting London in the firing line. The geological fault has already generated relatively large earthquakes in 1382 and 1580 and there is a substantial risk that a similar-sized earthquake could occur again with severe consequences for the capital given that it rests on clay soil that is easily shaken.
Although the British Isles does not lie on a major boundary of a tectonic plate, where most large earthquakes tend to occur, the country experiences regular small earthquakes due to a network of minor fault lines, including the one under the Straits of Dover.Typically there is one earthquake of magnitude 3.5 each year, 10 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 and one magnitude 4.5 every 10 years. "There are a lot of little fault lines all over the place. It's like a dinner plate that has been broken, glued back together and squeezed." Most modern buildings would be unaffected by such an earthquake but many of the older buildings, especially those in a bad state of repair, could suffer substantial damage, especially to their chimney stacks."It may not sound very dramatic compared to buildings collapsing, but if people are walking in the street and a chimney falls on them, that's bad news."
VOLCANOES -
Next Iceland eruption will likely cause less havoc - A new volcano eruption on Iceland could happen again soon, but will likely wreak less havoc than the one that caused massive airspace shutdowns earlier this year, experts said Thursday. The Eyjafjoell eruption, which began on April 14 and spewed enough ash to cause the biggest European airspace shutdown since World War II, "was VERY UNUSUAL. Most volcano eruptions in Iceland are basaltic," with lava flows and spewing only coarse-grained and heavy particles. "That is what we would expect would happen in Katla," a much larger, neighbouring volcano that historically erupts within a year or so of Eyjafjoell.
The smaller Eyjafjoell volcano, whose ash cloud affected more than 100,000 flights and eight million passengers in April and May, was different. "The particles were so fine that they did not settle. They were absolutely not coming down, determined to go to Europe and bother your airspace. For us in Iceland ... we don't deal with this kind of eruption except maybe once a century." For European airspace to suffer similar dire consequences as last time, the next eruption would need to be as explosive as the Eyjafjoell blast and meteorological conditions would need to be similar. While it is unlikely that so many factors would fall into place, "for the UK, if we had a repeat of this it would be an absolute disaster if it happened in the next two years," as another massive airspace shutdown could seriously disrupt the 2012 Olympics in Britain.
TROPICAL STORMS -
-Typhoon FANAPI was 401 nmi ESE of Taipei, Taiwan.
-Category 3 Hurricane IGOR was 391 nmi NE of Beef Island, British Virgin Islands. [ THE EYE OF IGOR IS PASSING VERY NEAR A NOAA BUOY - DUE TO THE LARGE SIZE AND RELATIVELY SLOW MOTION OF THE HURRICANE, THE BUOY HAS NOW REPORTED TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS FOR 21 CONSECUTIVE HOURS.]
-Category 1 Hurricane JULIA was 1136 nmi NE of Bridgetown, Barbados.
-Category 2 Hurricane KARL was 93 nmi N of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. [ THE FORECAST NOW CALLS FOR KARL TO BE A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE AT LANDFALL. WEAKENING IS EXPECTED AFTER LANDFALL OVER THE VERY HIGH TERRAIN OF MEXICO, BUT KARL WILL LIKELY PRODUCE
TORRENTIAL RAINS.]
In the Atlantic are hurricanes Karl, Igor and Julia, together with a new tropical wave. HAVING THREE SIMULTANEOUS HURRICANES IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN IS not A COMMON OCCURRENCE EVEN FOR THE PEAK OF THE HURRICANE SEASON which we are in.
HEAVY RAINS, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
A storm that meteorologists described as being THE SIZE OF AUSTRALIA buffeted New Zealand today, prompting severe weather warnings. Gale-force winds of up to 130km per hour were lashing some areas, including the capital Wellington, accompanied by heavy rain, lightning and plunging temperatures. "Winds of this strength have the potential to lift roofs, topple trees and powerlines and make driving conditions hazardous." The storm in the Southern Ocean was one of the largest currently on the planet, with a size roughly equivalent to Australia. While the storm's centre was likely to remain about 1000km west of New Zealand, the country will experience extreme weather for three or four days. The winds were likely to come in unpredictable squalls: "These Southern Ocean storms tend to fire up a number of aggressive but fairly short-lived fronts."
Christchurch, which was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake two weeks ago, could expect high winds but the city should escape the worst of the weather.
Storm rattles even jaded New Yorkers - A surprise tempest downs trees, strands commuters and leaves at least one person dead. A storm that thundered through New York City on Thursday turned the afternoon sky black, unleashed tornado-like squalls and stunned even jaded city dwellers with its ferocity, killing at least one person and stranding tens of thousands of evening commuters. Officials suspended access to overcrowded Pennsylvania Station in midtown Manhattan, where people were locked shoulder to shoulder after fallen trees forced a halt to commuter rail traffic. In Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, the boroughs hit hardest by the storm, locals used axes to hack at trees that in some cases had crashed across stairways and front porches, trapping people inside homes.
New York has had more than its share of BIZARRE WEATHER this year — its biggest snowfall in February, its hottest summer. But the 5:30 p.m. onslaught appeared to beat them all with its sudden arrival on what had been a relatively cool, calm day. Shortly after the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings, the skies turned dark and the wind picked up. Within minutes, blinding lightning followed by deafening thunder swept through the city. Hail and rain fell in horizontal sheets, pelting people as they left their offices for the day. "It felt like the Wizard of Oz." People described whooshing noises, train-like rumblings and the sounds of loud cracks as lightning struck and trees snapped. "It came so quickly. The sky got so dark. The rain was sideways — the water was coming in through the windows."
On the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, a motorist died when a tree fell across the road. Winds reached 80 mph. The storm evaporated as suddenly as it arrived. Within half an hour, tornado warnings were lifted, the skies lightened and people went outside to survey the damage, which weather officials had not yet confirmed was caused by tornadoes. "Whether it was or not is not really the issue. It was a very severe storm."
