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You’re right on. Chemical analysis has already confirmed that the oil comes from Venezuelan fields, and the quantity is smaller than you’d expect, they are curr
by jiofih 7y ago
You’re right on. Chemical analysis has already confirmed that the oil comes from Venezuelan fields, and the quantity is smaller than you’d expect, they are currently investigating a handful of suspect ships, but most likely the responsible one would have had its comm equipment turned off and hence not recorded by radar.
- CompleteWalker 7y agoDo you have source for the chemical analysis? Curious to read...
- rodolphoarruda 7y agoI'm not sure if data from the analysis will be made available to the large public anytime soon, but in the links below you can find more information about the protocol in use, measures taken so far and a statement from Petrobrás about the type of oil found in the region. https://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2019/10/25/petrobras-diz-que-e-praticamente-impossivel-impedir-que-oleo-chegue-as-praias.ghtml https://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2019/10/25/petrobras-d... https://www.marinha.mil.br/manchasdeoleo/informacoes-sobre-o-oleo https://www.marinha.mil.br/manchasdeoleo/informacoes-sobre-o... http://www.petrobras.com.br/fatos-e-dados/recolhemos-mais-de-200-toneladas-de-residuos-de-oleo-nas-praias-do-nordeste.htm http://www.petrobras.com.br/fatos-e-dados/recolhemos-mais-de...
- jiofih 7y agoEnglish tl;dr: Gas Chromatography and “Positive Ion Electron Impact Low Resolution Mass Spectrometry” allow them to compare the samples with known samples from other oil fields. Since petroleum has organic origins, it’s footprint is pretty much specific to the environment it comes from.
- inetknght 7y agoTurning communications equipment off is all that's necessary to disappear from radar?
- schoen 7y agoRadar can detect ships that don't cooperate with it, but not identify them. Ships are supposed to actively cooperate with a system called AIS (which is like aviation's ADS-B). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_identification_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_identification_syste... If they use AIS as required, they will be identified by receivers that they pass nearby.
- specialist 7y agoSurely there's a short list of usual suspects. Process of elimination. List of all known ships (tankers). Rule out ships accounted for (alibis). Investigate the handful of rouges.
- zentiggr 7y agoNot exactly... turning off radios would prevent inadvertent/automatic transmissions disabling transponders would reduce footprint on more modernized port control radars not using radar from ownship reduces the chance of being seen all these together would render the ship's ELINT footprint down to an old school blob on whatever radar plot that's about as anonymous as you can get without active countermeasures and those are VERY obvious
- malandrew 7y agoCan you tell us more about the active countermeasures? How do they work and what makes them very obvious?
- bdamm 7y agoThat is “stealth”. It’s obvious because it is expensive and secret tech. But also because if you look at the ship you see a ship, whereas the radar shows an albatross or something small. Transitions are also notable for radar operators that are really paying attention. A ship that turns into a goose and then back into a ship, for example.
- seminatl 7y agoWhy doesn't the huge, expensive, sophisticated, and quite useless US Navy interdict these mystery ships? You only need the permission of a ship's registered country to interdict it if that ships is flying a true flag. Otherwise it's just pirates. This would give the USN a worthwhile mission for the first time in decades.