2 months after BP spill sensor network deployed, shows you how important monitoring systems are for decision makers who don't know they don't have the data

MSNBC/AP has an article on a sensor network being deployed.

Sensors deployed to better track Gulf spill

Coast Guard says readings will validate estimates of oil gushing from well

The Transocean Discoverer Enterprise drill ship (with flare) collects oil from over the site of the BP oil well alongside support ships and relief wells as workers try to stem the flow of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

By HARRY R. WEBER, RAY HENRY

SCHRIEVER, Louisiana - Undersea sensors were being deployed to a ruptured well in the Gulf ofMexico on Sunday in an effort to better track the amount of oil gushing into the sea, the Coast Guard said, as pressure mounted on BP fromthe Obama administration and Gulf states to create special accounts that would set aside billions of dollars to pay for spill-related claims.

So, where did the estimates come from on the amount of oil spilled?  Back of napkins?

Scientists have struggled to pin down just how much oil is spilling into the Gulf, and the government has stressed that the larger estimates were still preliminary and considered a worse-case scenario. The lead scientist in the effort said last week that the most credible range at the moment is between 840,000 gallons and 1.68 million gallons daily.

The Obama administration's point man on the oil spill, Adm. Thad Allen, said the sensors were going to be deployed Sunday and will start taking pressure readings to validate the estimates, which have been made by using such things as spillcam video and sonar readings.

So, there is no scientific data to support any claims on how much oil has spilled.

Wow.  Shows you were people what people were thinking for the past 2 months.  Somewhere buried was some scientists saying let's deploy a sensor network to measure the spill.