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

What is BOA deep sea Rov 2 trying to do? I have been watching it unsuccessfully trying to lower something over and over again for the last thirty minutes. It looks like they are trying to lower something in place, but the currents keep moving it around or something.

Right this second it is blowing sediment from the inside of that 6 inch flexible jumper, whatever the heck that is.

reply to post by jessieg


I've been watching that too. When they first pulled that thing up it was covered in sand & every time they move it close to the camera, it stirs up all the sand. Looks to me like they have some kind of blower & are trying to clean it off. I have no idea what it is though. Once it was cleaned off a bit, it looked like a tank of some sort - like a propane tank.

reply to post by Divinorumus

It works! Bottles of your favorite are at this moment on their way to you via carrier pigeon...

Seriously though, they should ask you to write their help pages.

And yes, ENT 1 shows that the LMRP cap is tilted more than it apparently was yesterday. I don't suppose it can simply slide off because of that hunk of broken pipe inside it but I doubt its efficiency is particularly good now.

reply to post by JustMike


Glad to hear you got it to work (it took me a couple hours to figure it out long ago myself, ha). BTW, you can also adjust the bandwidth too by clicking the Edit Selected Profile box on that last step before hitting START for better quality (or use a better profile/codex option). BTW, I drink Rockstar energy drinks.

Originally posted by Moriarty
Just taken from Enterprise ROV2, outflow seems to have dropped considerably....or is it just me?

What a difference a day or two makes....the outflow seems much heavier now compared to this photo from the 23rd after the top hat was replaced. Thought this photo would help others with the tilt and outflow comparisons still being discussed.

This thread has been very helpful as a BOP/Top Hat/ROV Watch Thread! Thanks so much Mike. Great information coming from all. Wish there were improvements to report rather than what we are seeing.
Edit to add screen capture from 25th. [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dfee17f31f86.jpg[/atsimg]

Peace.

[edit on 25-6-2010 by DancedWithWolves]

reply to post by DancedWithWolves

Thank you for your comments and also for the screen shots. They are very good for documenting the apparent change in the state of things.

So much of the LMRP cap is obscured by billowing oil/gas/hydrates now (from either ROV's perspective) it makes me wonder if it's due to a combination of causes: the outlet pipe is perhaps deteriorating even more, the cap is badly seated and allowing a lot more of the leakage to escape, and perhaps things are also getting worse "down hole". (The latter is pure conjecture of course as we don't have a way to tell right now, but it must be considered in light of what has been said by some experts in the past several days.)

Whatever the reasons, it looks at least as bad now as it ever did and maybe worse.

As it's now after midnight here I might take a break. I hope if anything major happens someone will catch it and post it here on ATS. In this thread or a new one -- it ultimately doesn't matter. The main thing is to have the information available for people to find.

Mike

Things seem to be getting very active down there.

Has anyone noticed it?

reply to post by sweetliberty


I just started looking at it again & either they moved the camera or it has tilted even more.

reply to post by GATruthseeker


For the longest tme, it's been a steady flow. Now it looks like there is a storm down there, lol.

It looks like its becoming out of control, honestly, no pun intended.

Hello all, I'm new here and this is my first official post. I have been following the thread for the past few days now. I've also been watching the live stream footage someone linked early in the thread (thanks!)

I've noticed a few things. When the TopHat was off the plume seemed to be orange or yellow. Now that the tophat is back on the plume is dark black as expected.

I don't see the dispersant being injected to the plume anymore since the hat is back on. Which makes me think the orange plume was due to either the interaction the dispersant had on the oil, the lighting from the RoV or a mixture of both.

Its quite obvious now though that the orange yellow color is gone with the hat on even though a majority of the oil is still leaking through around the hat.

If the dispersant/lighting or mixture of both was not the cause for the extreme difference in color then to now, then why is the yellow/orange material gone?

reply to post by Sly1one


I also took special note of the very orange color of one of the two streams when the Top Hat was off. A workmate made a comment to my very concerned *look* that "it was the lighting." I very patiently pointed out to her that *if* that were the case then there would be *no* white in the picture close to the orange stream. This was not the case, as there were a number of white paint areas showing.

So, no, it wasn't lighting that gave that very unnatural color. Nor was it dispersant. The stream was orange by nature of the stream. The best explanation I've found for that was a combination of temperature of the out rushing oil, the pressure, and the gas composition of that stream: combined - they produced that color.

Earlier the oil spewing from the well was being thrashed around somewhat. There was a lot of action with the oil/gases dancing around.

Now it's a steady flow going straight up and the waters are calm.
This is on bp.com, skandi ROV1.

When I go to Q4000 ROV1 the waters are not calm, the rov is very much active too and its littered with the frozen gasses.
.
It was scanning the ocean floor.

I'm just wondering why the water is calm while viewing the skanti but very busy when viewing Q4000. Maybe the skandi ROV1 is a loop.

reply to post by sweetliberty



There 2 different locations one is monitoring the cap the other is monitoring the manifold they placed on the ocean floor to distribute oil to the risers they expect to have installed by mid july. Currently the q 4000 is the only thing connected to the manifold and cant handle all the volume.

Ps if you guys go to bps website you would know whats going on before it does happen instead of panicking. There removing the cap to be replaced by a new riser soon alot of what your seeing is that process.


[edit on 6/25/10 by dragonridr]

reply to post by dragonridr


Yes, I will do that next time, its been a long day.

I guess the gasses are very much abundant around the other site too.

Thank you.

reply to post by Geeky_Bubbe


Still curious however why the orange or yellow color of the plume is completely gone now that the hat is back on? Something changed from hat off to hat on that made the colors go from orange/yellow to black again.

Also I'm hearing a lot about methane being leaked into the oceans from this plume. If methane was leaking into the water at this huge amount then wouldnt that severely effect the buoyancy of the large ships above?

I know that methane reduces the density of water significantly if found in large concentrations such as would be present at this well head IF indeed it were leaking methane to the degree some are speculating.

someone actually suggested that the methane could have caused the RoV to hit the hat etc...

My personal belief is that there is methane leaking but not significantly enough to effect the majority of the water around the well-head otherwise the ships above would be in some serious trouble. However there might just be enough methane to cause the rovers to have some issues navigating.

I still don't think that's what initially screwed up the hat though.

Side note: as I look at the live feed that hat is a P.O.S and is doing no good other than providing comfort to masses know that its not a completely unrestricted flow. Even though is mostly still is.

Is it me or does the BOP seem to be tilting more than usual?

reply to post by Moriarty


Yes. I've watched it since this morning. It has gotten progressively worse. Now, it even appears that the well head, whatever it's called, under the BOP is also suffering a bit of "vertical challenge" and that was not evident this morning. That showed up early this evening, or at least that's when I noticed it.

Originally posted by Geeky_Bubbe
reply to post by Moriarty

 

Yes. I've watched it since this morning. It has gotten progressively worse. Now, it even appears that the well head, whatever it's called, under the BOP is also suffering a bit of "vertical challenge" and that was not evident this morning. That showed up early this evening, or at least that's when I noticed it.

I'm starting to think we found our reason for the periods of reduced outflow we've seen the last few days. IMO the casing is obviously damaged and is deteriorating quickly. I'm thinking the well casing gets clogged with debris and damaged pieces of the casing itself causing outflow at the top to slow while building pressure below the seabed causing the BOP's very foundation to be slowly eaten away from beneath it. Once the pressure gets high enough i think it blows whatever was blocking it out of the way and we once again see outflow dramatically increase. I know a few have reported seeing the rovs almost hit with debris coming out of the bop, that very well may have been whatever clogs it from time to time. The fact that its leaning even more is just proof that time is running out for the bop.

reply to post by Sly1one


I have been thinking about the color issue since it all of the sudden appeared to be the color of curry powder. I remember when we first got to see the Hi-Res footage which was before the top hat (1st week of June). It looked to me like there were 2 separate pipes or at least 2 separate distinctive flows - one with black liquid & one with a lighter brown. I naturally assumed one was oil & one was natural gas. I remember when they first put the top hat on & it certainly mixed them all up & created a lot more bubbles.

What we saw the other day when the top hat was removed, was definitely a much brighter color. But Why? I have seen someone on here make a pretty convincing case that it was not a lighting effect & it really did look like it had changed dramatically. I wondered if it had changed because one of the flows just changed from one substance (natural gas) to sulphur as some were suggesting. It seemed to me that the theory of it being sulphur suggested that it was going to end up in an explosion very soon. Obviously that hasn't happened yet.

It looks to me like is coming out at about the same rate it was 3 weeks ago, maybe a bit more. I don't think the top hat is doing a ------- thing except mixing it up & making it impossible to see anything. The trouble is that the camera angles change so often & some of them really do appear to be looped.

I have also been pondering the methane issue as well. I have to believe that they have to know how much is coming out or if there is some other reason to believe that there is imminent danger to everyone out there :volcano, tsunami, etc. Why would they continue to be sitting ducks? Why would they have all those boats out there spraying dispersants if the whole Gulf is going to blow up and/or a methane bubble sink the boats?

What worries me the most is how it really looks like it is tilting. I know this could be from camera angles. Last night they had pretty good shots of the whole BOP & it didn't look tilted but I have seen more than one stretch of footage where it looked like it was definitely moving around. The Depth changing over 100 ft. in one week is also very disturbing. Of course, no one in the MSM or anywhere else but this board is asking those questions.

All I know is that they aren't telling us anything!!!! Nothing makes sense about this whole situation. The media seems to be abandoning this story as quickly as they can. Where are the scientist, geologists, engineers talking to the media like you would normally have? BP is obviously in charge of everything which is just plain scary.

I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. This is such a worrisome situation & no one in my world seems to be available to discuss. It is comforting in some way to know that you guys are here asking the same ??? that I have & trying to find the truth .... as horrible as it may be.