The leak team has officially tightened their estimate. It is now 20000 - 40000 barrels per day, in their official opinions or about 3 - 6 dam³/d (conversion limited to 1 sig. fig.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100610/pl_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentflow_20100610232259;_ylt=Aj7RTsd2fA.xNqeJoUvnA5ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFoMW8xMGk1BHBvcwMyNARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawN1c21vcmV0aGFuZG8- ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: John M. Steele <[email protected]> To: USMA <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 5:50:01 PM Subject: Fw: [USMA:47652] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI Well, now this team is estimating 50000 barrels per day http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill;_ylt=AtxggR3w2l1udpgsF6tt.oth24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTM2NnQ2cGZkBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNjEwL3VzX2d1bGZfb2lsX3NwaWxsBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3RlYW1zYXlzbXVjaA-- That is 8 dam³/d to us. But the estimate gets higher every time anyone estimates, so I don't have any confidence in it. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: John M. Steele <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 2:55:25 PM Subject: Re: [USMA:47652] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI It is defined as 42 US gallons or 9702 in³. From the latter definition it can be converted to 0.158 987 295 m³. For the lousy leak estimates 0.16 m³ is more than adequate. I saw an article today in which the leak team gave a rough estimate of 19000 - 43000 barrels per day or 3 to 7 dam³/day. (How do you sensibly round a number with NO significant figures and debatable order of magnitude?) ________________________________ From: Phil Hall <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 2:08:34 PM Subject: [USMA:47652] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI A search of the internet seems to suggest that a barrel of crude oil is widely regarded as 42 "US gallon" It may be used in the international markets but it is fair to say it is probably of US origin and largely the result of thier commercial dominance. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 10 June, 2010 6:47:21 PM Subject: [USMA:47651] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI Barrels are the unit of measure used in the international oil markets. The oil industry is one of the least metric industries that I know. One of their units of measure is to express oil reserves in a reservoir in barrels per acre-foot. In metric parlance, this would be expressed as a percentage (or decimal fraction). From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: 10 June 2010 18:41 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47650] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI I was of the understanding that 'barrels' was an international thing used only by the oil companies. Interesting that this international company has stirred up a bit of anti-brit feeling in the US (not on this list though) where BP is truly an international company like Ford. Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:26:35 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47641] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI To: [email protected] I hope that is a joke, as I KNOW you understand precision and sensible rounding. However, we have some "decimal dusters" who might not get it. The 1000 m is of course one of "those" numbers where you ask how many of those digits are significant. Given a vertical plume, and general lack of precision in measurements at sea, I'm guessing 1 or 2, although clearly it is a guess. However, I do wonder why British Petroleum measures the leak in American "barrels." Do they think they are aidding or hindering understanding? Given the range, that figure has no significant figures and the order of magnitude seems debatable. From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 11:00:56 AM Subject: [USMA:47640] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI Pat, In my local newspaper I read that an oil plume was located at a depth of "3 300 feet" which was probably reported at 1 000 meters. i.e. 3 300 x 0.3048 = 1 005.84 meters. Note the discrepancy of 5.84 meters between the value reported and the numbed down value disseminated by the Associated Press. Shame on the AP distortion! Gene, Censor of Deviations from SI ---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:29:29 +1000 >From: Pat Naughtin < [email protected] > >Subject: [USMA:47625] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI >To: "U.S. Metric Association" < [email protected] > > > Dear Gene, > You might be interested in this article in our local > newspaper, 'The > Age': > http://www.theage.com.au/world/experts-at-loggerheads-over-oil-leak-rate-20100608-xtlj.html > > Since each of the sources has their own > 'down-dumber' I don't suppose we can have any > confidence whether the original data (kilograms, > litres, cubic metres, metres per minute, metres per > hour, gallons UK, gallons USA, feet per minute, etc, > ) is being reported reliable given the possibility > of multiple conversion errors. > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin >... Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now.
