Experts: 5k barrels a day 'almost certainly incorrect'

Everyone has known for some time that accurately judging the amount of oil spilling from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is extremely difficult, if not impossible. But according to an exclusive analysis done for NPR News, a group of experts has independently figured spill-rate estimates that are remarkably similar -- and more than ten times higher than the common estimate of "5,000 barrels per day." One expert's estimate involved measuring the rate of flow shown in a BP-released video of the gushing end of the riser pipe, and it resulted in a median figure of 70,000 barrels leaked a day, with a 20 percent margin of error. His analysis was corroborated by two other experts who arrived at similar estimates via different methods. It is important to note that the material leaking might not be completely made of crude oil; a great deal of methane is mixed in, and the leak may be cycling between crude and methane periodically. Read much more, here. Alaska Beat would like to remind everyone that unless one of those concrete funnels they keep lowering over the leak's plume works, the most accurate measurement of this spill's total volume can only be conducted by a massive flotilla of skimmers and lightering vessels.