re: #438 ~Fianna

That’s why I asked. Although, and this might be a really stupid question, is it better to have the oil concentrated in one place rather than spread out over a wider area? That might show my utter ignorance about both chemistry and about oil eradication, but my first thought would be that thicker and more concentrated is easier to track and remove.

Of course, on the flip side, thicker and more concentrated coats birds and fish and also increases the density of the toxins.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this and also for answering specific, hopefully not too silly and ignorant, questions.

There is no such thing as a stupid question! It would obviously be better if they had sufficient resources to collect the oil at the surface, but the addition of the surfactants at depth has kept a large percentage of the oil from surfacing. In addition, subsea flows have resulted in the oil that does reach the surface doing so in a pattern that cannot be easily corralled.