The Special "TOP HAT" Cover on Top of the BOP has Apparently Blown Off!

can anyone post a pic of the pipe a month ago to compare to now?

i've lost rov2 and can't seem to get it back. let me know if anything interesting happens, i'm prepared to get my baby and evacuate at a moments notice.

I think that the "melting" is more like breaking.

Steel requires 1200 degrees C to start melting. Would friction do that? I doubt it.

A more plausible thing is that due to the heat-friction, the steel gets heated up (not melting but hot steel like 200 to 500 degrees C). At the same time, at the rim of the hole, the heated up steel comes into contact with freezing water making a constant heating up, cooling down cycle.

That makes the Steel brittle and with the insane pressure that the gushing oil applies, it breaks pieces off that have become brittle.

That would explain the missing bits on the top.

Okey, just got this from the Enterprise ROV1 link. Subsea operational update:

• This morning at approximately 0845 CDT a discharge of liquids was observed from a diverter valve on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, which is on station at the MC252 wellsite. As a precautionary measure, the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap system, attached to the Discover Enterprise, has been moved off the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer to ensure the safety of operations and allow the unexpected release of liquids to be analysed.

• Capture of oil and gas through the LMRP cap is therefore temporarily suspended until such time that the cap can be re-installed. Capture of oil and gas through the BOP's choke line to the Q4000 vessel on the surface continues.
www.bp.com...

reply to post by James R. Hawkwood


Actually there have been articles which suggest that both the pressure on such think steel, AND the issue of granules wearing away the metal are BOTH very real concerns.

whats that white stuff that the little pipe is spewing out into the oil gushing out

dispersal chemical

is sprayed into leak


moronic really

I am more concerned about the sea floor dropping.. At a slow pace since this leak started.... Very concerned about getting this leak plugged up instead of funnelled up. Also I saw some video of the sea floor around the leak cracking... Ahem.. Lets try to stay in the middle with this info..

If it is indeed melting/breaking then they won't be able to put the cap back on will they ?

And how would this effect the relief well efforts ? Could they still try that tactic if this thing is all melted/broken ?

Whats that orange peice just down below the flow been sitting ther for a while

reply to post by cosmicpixie


I would venture to guess if the leak eats down to the plate, the volume / pressure would increase tremendously. This im sure would prevent any further caps on that particular area.

I'm noticing the pipe with the 'less orange' flow is very jagged. (The pipe with the gunk that sort of looks like lava on it). Is this from when they tried to cut the pipe and gashed it all up?

maybe the pipe getting red hot, we've been speculating on that for a couple pages now.

reply to post by Chance321


So they keep changing the story... First the ROV knocked into it. And now they removed it... Sounds like the same old song and game from BP.

reply to post by Chance321


if the "tophat" got bumped off, wouldnt that create quite a collision? in such a collision strong enough to dislodge this piece of metal that was on here good enough that what, 70,000 barrels of oil where being collected per day, or 70,000 gallons. whatever the number is at now it was really high and filling up the tankers in a day. not to mention the oil that was escaping was more than 50% of what they where collecting, this much they have admitted. well for this "hat" to collect that much oil, under these pressures and still hang on to that bop, it would have to be holding on fairly tight. do you at least agree on this? and if you do, wouldnt it take a pretty considerable collision to dislodge it? now my point is, with a collision of this magnitude wouldnt there be some visible damage to the "hat"? i mean it seems to me it would have to bump it pretty hard. maybe hard enough it would need taken to the top to straighten out the damage, and not just clean it. would it still fit right after such a collision? does this make sense to anyone else?

[edit on 06/02/2010 by letscit]

[edit on 06/02/2010 by letscit]

[edit on 06/02/2010 by letscit]

Originally posted by Bicent76
I am more concerned about the sea floor dropping.. At a slow pace since this leak started.... Very concerned about getting this leak plugged up instead of funnelled up. Also I saw some video of the sea floor around the leak cracking... Ahem.. Lets try to stay in the middle with this info..

How many days or weeks have you been monitoring the water depth ? Just wondering if this is some weird anomaly we don't understand as we are not scientists or if there is really something to it.....which there would be if the epth measurements have been consistent for weeks then suddenly drop

I've never come across any mention of the sea floor DROPPING in any article about this disaster, only speculation that it might rise and cause a tsunami. What the heck does the sea floor DROPPING mean ?

Originally posted by Relaxfreedom
Whats that orange peice just down below the flow been sitting ther for a while

That would be the $64,000 question right now.

Some people want to say the steel is melting, others are saying it is lava comin out of the pipe.

I have no idea!

here is the video i said i would post on oil being a fossil fuel versus being naturally made by the earth. i believe i said the man was a general. i am sorry he was a colonel.

reply to post by cosmicpixie

I've never come across any mention of the sea floor DROPPING in any article about this disaster, only speculation that it might rise and cause a tsunami. What the heck does the sea floor DROPPING mean ?

After enough oil leaks out, the water will then fall into the gaping hole because the sea floor might cave in on itself. That "might" cause a tsunami. Also, the water is cold and inside the oil cavern is hot and that could create a rush of steam. I don't understand much myself really, but that's what i've gathered so far from all the talk.


[edit on 23-6-2010 by Under Water]

sea floor drops are normally from erosion, or underground volcano lava flows that harden that temporarily raise the floor then it breaks off from erosion dropping the floor..

it's normally a natural process

but this makes it man made now, course we've lowered sea floors before (youtube the underwater nuke tests from 60's I think it was)

but yea this is a bit unnatural way of doing it


once that well is empty expect it to lower


[edit on 6/23/2010 by Cito]

reply to post by letscit
Also: what ROV hit it?

Is it out of commission?

How massive was this ROV? Any news on the "boat captain who knew too much"?