Will we ever know how much oil spilled?

This is an incredibly scary scenario, to think of that much oil potentially leaking into the gulf. 50 million barrels, even at 60,000 barrels a day, is over 800 days. That adds up to a lot of Exxon Valdez's.

I like this quote. “If it’s beyond their technical capability, the whole world is ready to help them.” The issue of how much oil is spilling screams out as a problem that needs to be crowd sourced. I wonder how long it would take for the community of scientists in the world to come up with an accurate number? I saw the video they mention, and it is kinda scary to see that much oil spilling out.

I can only imagine that BP does not want an accurate count of the amount of oil. I don't think that an accurate number will sound very good in court.

in reference to:

"“If it’s beyond their technical capability, the whole world is ready to help them.”"
- Calculations of Gulf Spill Volume Are Questioned - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)