Proof of Oil Rain?

reply to post by inbound

Originally posted by inbound
I guess a good place to start a little research would be the spill in Iraq. Plenty of oil, and plenty of burning oil. I wonder if they experienced any oil rain?

At your suggestion, I did just exactly that. Twenty seconds of searching produced this 2003 example statement from one of Iran's Director-Generals of the Department of Environment:

Iraq's burning oil wells will likely cause black rain in Iran's Khuzestan province

Director-General of Khuzestan province Department of Environment Kazem Sepehrfar on Wednesday predicted the possible black acidic rainfalls across the province, following the gustly wind in Ahvaz, IRNA reported.

He told IRNA that according to Khuzestan Meteorological Department, the windblow originated from the Saudi Arabian desert area and a low weather front suspending over eastern Iraq.

"The gustly wind consisting of heavy hydrocarbons and circular compounds mainly account for the acid rainfalls, while a mixture of the gases resulting from Iraq's burning oil wells and dust have penetrated Iran's air space.

Sepehrfahr noted that the black rain can severely pollute the water ecosystems, damage the air-generating micro-organisms in the soil, reduce the fertility of the agricultural lands and interfere with the growth of the planted seeds.

The environmental official also referred to the circular compounds of the acidic rain as the main cause for the air pollution and a threat against the human health and the early death of the patients.

Now that example could be politically motivated, so I'll continue the search.

BACK:

Here is a 2008 scientific study from the Nigerian delta:

Acid Rain Phenomenon in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Economic, Biodiversity, and Public Health Concern

Environmental pollution, a known feature of the crude oil–producing area of Nigeria, has led to social agitation, claims, and counter claims. We have measured the acidity of rainwater in two major cities within the oil-producing areas and compared it with Awka, a city not connected with oil exploration activities. Our results suggest that oil exploration may contribute to the precipitation of acid rain.

...

Rain samples were collected from Warri and Port Harcourt, two major oil-producing cities of Nigeria in April-June, July-August, and September-October 2005 and 2006. Awka, a “non-oil” city was used as control. Samples were collected from three points, using clean plastic basins fastened to a table, 2 m above ground level and 115 m away from tall buildings and trees. Water samples were filtered and acidity determined using digital pH meter. The results show that the rain samples were acidic. The pH values for the 2 years under study show that the rainfall in Warri was more acidic than that of Port Harcourt. Oil exploration and other anthropogenic sources may be responsible for the acid rain in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

This is a bit more compelling.

More:

Gas flaring causes acid rain in Nigeria, says university don

As Nigerians worry about the effects of the predicted acid rain in the country by a foreign agency, a don at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in south-eastern Nigeria, Professor Raymond Anyadike, has attributed gas flaring by oil companies in Nigeria as a major cause of acid rain.

Anyadike, a professor of climatology at the Department of Geography of UNN, told journalists on Thursday in Nsukka, about 460km from Abuja that acid rain could only fall within the Niger Delta region because of the huge quantity of sulphuric dioxide and methane in the air as a result of gas flaring.

“There is no way other parts of the country will experience acid rain, even if there is a wind shift, it will dilute the acid before it reaches any other part of the country.

“Acid rain is not new to those living in areas in Niger Delta where there has been oil exploration for years,’’ he said.

And this just involves flaring. What happens when you have 'controlled' burning of massive pools of oil and methane?


In Situ Burning







[edit on 3-7-2010 by loam]

Hello, West Houston here - Richmond/Katy area specifically - we've had about 7" of rain the past two days (rain gauge says so) and I have inspected our plants and driveway and see absolustely no sign of oil. Sure is nice to see the sun today!

reply to post by loam


Awesome research, but that seems to be referring to acid rain. Acid Rain will OF COURSE occur anywhere there are suspended particles int hr air from burning, etc.

Wasnt the question whether or not it could rain oil?

afternoon,well here in Scotland anywhooo,
just read all the posts and watched 2/3 vids,regarding the searching for acidic rain, as a youngster i remember reading about Norway,Sweden and Findland some years ago(bare in mind i'm just a young thing)These countries got to the point where they had to stop people going in there lakes to swim,because the waters were dangerous.i can recall seeing a programme on the google box and the lake they were viewing was beautiful and accompanying commentary from 1 of the scientists was,the water is very clean and clear,thats because everything is dead with the acidity,everything,just want to add all those who think nothing will come of this must have a limited exposure to the history of contaminants used by various countries during the last 100yrs,that would be the nuclear flag flyiers,away take a look at "problem chernobl"
for every action there is a re-action.

reply to post by justadood


I see the two subjects as closely related to one another.

The point being is that in situ burning, the massive use of dispersant, and other factors specific to the Gulf of Mexico disaster, all potentially contribute to significant inland impact.

If such a thing is true, people need to be aware of it, imo.

And it's not going to be just oil in the rain - we're looking at methane, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, VOC (benzyne) and other toxic chemicals.

We have as a species got to do something, we can't keep going on this way. We are ruining our planet.



[edit on 3-7-2010 by ofhumandescent]

[edit on 3-7-2010 by ofhumandescent]

reply to post by loam


Oh, absolutely. Like I said, great info, great diggin on your part.

But the title of the thread refers to 'raining oil' so i was curious if there was some dissonance.

i have seen some interesting speculation about the crude being able to evaporate, and this possibly being exacerbated by the use of corexitt. But i am curious if there is any legitimate, documented info of crude actually evaporating and raining back down?

reply to post by loam


Great post, but if you're going for credibility, probably better not to include rick sanchez. He's the guy, that after a tsunami alert, that mistook Japan for Hawaii, then said "Nine meters....how high is that in english?....This guy is Ted Baxter and Ron Burgundy all rolled up into one.

this is becoming a habit !
just to clear up any misunderstanding,the lakes in Norway etc were polluted by the industrial manufacturing in those areas,but it was several years before anyone became aware of the problem.
if i have learned just 1 thing in my short life,it is that Nothing is impossible,Nothing.and if it can go wrong it probably will,at the worst possible time.

reply to post by ofhumandescent


you know, that video keeps getting posted but the title is misleading.

There is zero evidence that the title is accurate and the gulf spill is the cause of the crop damage. Not saying it isnt happening, not saying it wont happen. I'm saying its speculation at best at this point.

This is uncanny, I have a covering of what looks like spots of oil/sheen on plants on my balcony, never had this looking stuff before on them ,Just removed it because it didnt look to good, However I am in the uk we had a large rainstorm last night........

reply to post by gambon


show and prove.

photos. something other than just your own words.

what would that proove, as it is i have taken some residue to the uni lab to have it looked at..
I am not saying this is from the gulf and am indeed suspecting something else

[edit on 3-7-2010 by gambon]

reply to post by gambon


Good point. A Photo would prove little.

I'd be interested to see the lab results posted.

my apologies if it seemed snarky. i am growing weary of the anecdotal evidence and you may have caught the fallout.

[edit on 3-7-2010 by justadood]

Originally posted by justadood
reply to post by loam

 

Awesome research, but that seems to be referring to acid rain. Acid Rain will OF COURSE occur anywhere there are suspended particles int hr air from burning, etc.

Wasnt the question whether or not it could rain oil?

Acid rain is also caused by the evaporation of light oils , acids etc, eg the components of crude oil into the atmosphere,,,,,not just "burning etc"

so to rain oil could be one of 200 different chemicals in the crude are raining down after evaporation , mebbe just the coreexit evaporates...who knows....

reply to post by justadood


I actually thought photo! Then realised could be easily doctored mocked up etc, Also these are very small "globs" on the leaves of my plant , not massive , but leaving the rainbow sheen of oil when tried to wash off


No worries , thank you for your apology lol .

[edit on 3-7-2010 by gambon]

Some common sense would help here. If we had "oil rain" on the Super Dome, wouldn't we see it on other nearby buildings? Wouldn't it be in the parking lots and show up as a sheen on the asphalt as you see when a parked car has leaked some oil? Wouldn't the oil rain be on thousands of cars that were on the road or parked around there? You know how hard it is to get oil off of a windshield? Thousands of people would have been screaming mad. Wouldn't the roads around the Super Dome be slippery from the oil?

As for oil rain in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Carolinas, would we not see the oily residue in every mud puddle, every pond and lake? Collecting rain water next to the house is a bad example since asphalt shingles that are rotting will leave oily residue.

Common sense tells me if someone is trying to film the effects of "oil rain" they would pan the camera all around because the oily film will show up on everything, not just isolated spots here and there.

time will tell
take care fellow humans..