Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown • Hacker News Board

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#21

Post by beezm » Fri, May 28, 2010, 3:52 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #19

angstrom wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this just the tip of the iceberg? Much of it is in a suspend emulsion that doesn't neccessarily match the surface outline.

Maybe. Regular oil floats to the surface. I'm not sure about all this crude however.

It floats.

Until it forms into little tarballs, and then sinks below the surface of the water. Combined with the "safe" dispersant BP is using to thin the oil, it helps the whole sinking process go faster.

The size of this overlay is more so a depiction of the "core" spill. The slick above and below water extends to a much larger area, and also moves around daily.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#22

Post by statenjason » Fri, May 28, 2010, 6:23 AM UTC

Covers the Great Salt Lake, and most of the upper corner of Utah.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#23

Post by aquateen » Fri, May 28, 2010, 7:13 AM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #13

This is actually a great way to visualize the size of pretty much anything within the scale range of 10^-1 to 10^2 miles across. Nothing humanizes a distance more than seeing it directly in comparison to what you experience every day.

Why didn't you type "1/10 to 100 miles"?

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#24

Post by Confusion » Fri, May 28, 2010, 7:57 AM UTC

stdan27 wrote: post #3

For anyone in the UK, this is more like "Visualise the Deepwater oil spill over your part of the country"

Or in the case of smaller countries like NL: visualize the oil spill over half your country.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#25

Post by JoachimSchipper » Fri, May 28, 2010, 11:42 AM UTC

aquateen wrote: post #23

mortenjorck wrote: post #13

This is actually a great way to visualize the size of pretty much anything within the scale range of 10^-1 to 10^2 miles across. Nothing humanizes a distance more than seeing it directly in comparison to what you experience every day.

Why didn't you type "1/10 to 100 miles"?

I think it's related to the great "powers of 10" film; see http://www.powersof10.com/.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#26

Post by felideon » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:11 PM UTC

Wow, it would cover all of South Florida and reach to the Bahamas. (Enter Miami, FL to visualize.)

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#27

Post by s-phi-nl » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:27 PM UTC

Does anyone know what causes the big clear spots in the middle?

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#28

Post by EvanK » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:40 PM UTC

I live in Houston, so I don't have to visualize...It IS sort of over my hometown.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#29

Post by jz » Fri, May 28, 2010, 3:36 PM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #5

Enough to cover one of the Great Lakes. Charming.

I thought the exact opposite. I'm in Chicago and the spill covers a 1/3 to 1/2 of Lake Michigan. After zooming out though, it clearly would cover Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. The thing that was put in perspective for me was the shear size of the Atlantic.