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An airplane, visible at top left, flies above the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion at the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. This image was taken from space on April 26 by DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellte. Click on the image for a wider, high-resolution view of the scene. |
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is being tracked from outer space, where the sea's ugly slick takes on a strange kind of beauty.
Ever since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been analyzing satellite imagery to help figure out how far the spill has spread, and where it's likely to go next. The best projections suggest that oil will reach the Mississippi River delta as early as tonight. For the latest from NOAA, check out the agency's Incident News Web site, which includes maps of the oil spill's "footprint."
You'll also want to keep track of the U.S. Coast Guard's Joint Information Center on the Web.NASA provided this April 29 picture of the slick, as seen by the Terra satellite's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, or MODIS:
 NASA |
An instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured this view of the oil slick off in the Gulf of Mexico on April 29. Click on the picture for a larger view from NASA. |
Terra and its satellite sibling, Aqua, circle Earth in a nearly pole-to-pole orbit at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers). Under typical conditions, it would be tough to spot an oil slick in visible light from outer space, because the sheen of oil darkens the blue ocean background only slightly. But the slick shows up as a bright swirl in the image above because Terra made its observations from just the right angle, during a time when sunlight was glinting brightly off the oil.
For more NASA satellite imagery of the oil spill, click through the roundup at the agency's Earth Observatory Web site.
Radar instruments provide a more reliable method to spot spills from space, and that's where the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite came into play, as seen below:
 ESA |
The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite used its radar-imaging instrument to get this view of the oil spill on April 26. Click on the image for a larger view. |
Envisat is following the spill from an orbital height of about 500 miles (800 kilometers) - using its Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) as well as its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS).
Neither clouds nor darkness hinder the radar imager, because ASAR provides its own "illumination" in the form of long-wavelength radar transmissions. But because the radar signals are in only one wavelength, the resulting imagery is in black-and-white instead of color. Check out this Envisat FAQ for more about how radar imaging works.
Meanwhile, MERIS has been providing multispectral imagery of the spill, which looks similar to the pictures from Aqua.
Envisat's images and maps are being provided to U.S. agencies under the terms of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, which calls for sharing remote-sensing satellite data to civil protection agencies and other in response to disasters. The charter has come into play for the oil spill as well as this month's Iceland ash cloud, China's recent magnitude-6.9 earthquake and Haiti's seismic disaster.
Eumetsat, the European clearinghouse for meteorological and climate data from satellites, is also on the case. Here's an image from MetOp-A, a weather eye in the sky that orbits from pole to pole. The satellite's imager picks up on spectral differences in the radiation reflected by sea and land - which explains why the color-coded picture doesn't reflect real-life hues:
 Eumetsat |
A color-coded image from Eumetsat's MetOp-A weather satellite from April 29 shows the oil spill near the Mississippi River delta. Click on the image for a larger version. |
Commercial satellites are contributing images to the cause as well. DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite has been keeping track of the Gulf of Mexico spill from a height of 280 miles (450 kilometers). The oil sheen glints in shades ranging from red to green and blue in pictures with enough resolution (2.4 meters per pixel) to make out planes and boats passing through. For more DigitalGlobe imagery, check out the company's Flickr gallery.
 DigitalGlobe |
The oil sheen from the Transocean Deepwater spill shines in rainbow colors as ships pass through, as seen in this image from DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite. Click on the picture for another perspective from msnbc.com's Photoblog. |
For more oil-spill imagery, click through our slideshow. And for additional background about the high-tech methods being used to fight the spill, check out these Web reports:
- Christian Science Monitor: Spill serves as testing ground
- LiveScience: Spill pushes oil cleanup tech to its limits
- CBC News: The science of cleaning up oil
- SkyTruth on Flickr: Deepwater Horizon imagery
- HowStuffWorks: How do you clean up an oil spill?
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The images are great, Al...
I want to know why we can't recapture the purging, floating oil and refine the stuff.
BP, et al should be forced to produce whatever useable chems can be salvaged.
The burn-off idea only removes the more volatile elements...crude oil does not burn up into smoke and cinders...the leftover parrafin alone is like a crust.
This could become a shining example of how we are going to deal with GeoEngineering on a huge scale...because it is going to happen.
We can't resolve a problem that has a millennium of history.
What are we going to do when the Steam Vent Wildcatters get going?
Simply out...biz as usual ain't cuttin' it, Kids...here's a perfect chance to do more than the usual hand wringing, bird washing, and creating a big payday for Dawn/Joy and other dish detergent producers...they ( Dawn/Joy manufacturers )should be made to give every cent to Gulf residents...there would be no Dawn/Joy without petro chems...
That's why it cuts and disperses the oily film so well...same stuff.
Simply put...YECHHH!!!!
Nice pics...oil on water is beautiful...colors that aren't on the rainbow...compliments of King Petro Chem.
Tell me again why we want to do off-shore drilling...
this is not de first time this cathastrofi occurs and de goverment knows whus responsible and theynt do nothin they are distroying our lives god have merci of them ........
BP is a greedy and heartless oil company that puts profits over people. We are tired of this. BP made $16 BILLION last year alone AND DID NOT PAY A DIME IN US INCOME TAXES. EXXON PAID NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX ON $46 BILLION IN PROFIT LAST YEAR, THAT IS INEXCUSABLE. ALL THE REST OF US MUST PAY OUR TAXES. Some may argue that that is okay because they create jobs. Yea, they create jobs all right, but it might easily kill you to work there. FIX MY COAST AND MY LAKE OR GET THE HELL OUT OF LOUISIANA, NOW!!!!!
Louisiana has NEVER stood up to these oil companies. We let them come into our state, exploit our resources, and abuse our workers; we even give them tax-breaks to do it. Pathetic. Where is our Governor? Maybe if he keeps his mouth shut, these oil companies will keep filling his campaign coffers with their ill-gotten gains so that he can continue on his true mission - political advancement. Why is Jindal not fighting for us? This is his job, not running around the country on a "rabble-rousing" tour.
I believe that renewable energy should be used instead of putting all of the eggs into oil based energy. A person should own and operate the energy production, much like a person owns and operates a vehicle for transportation. That's my goal anyway... If i could ever find a job that is
Somehow I don't think "Spill Baby Spill!" was quite the mantra they were looking for.
If President Obama still wants to open up the eastern seaboard to offshore drilling after this mess... I'll never vote for him again! It's this type of disaster that truly intelligent people would try to stop... not just "avoid" while letting the money hungry corporations run the world.
DRILL BABY DRILL...............
This just shows we need to work harder to use and produce green feuls in the united states and do away with the drilling for oil for good. The impacts are much worse than just the wildlife and shorelines. It is also a huge hit on the economy. Gas prices will undoubtly go sky rocketing even with companies that had othing to do with the spill. Sometimes I wish I didn't see the news.....
Those certainly are lovely pictures. They are a tribute to our obliteration of all the natural resources in the world, combined with the annihilation of our natural world.
Ahh, the beauty of Nature.
"Honey, isn't the moon enchanting as it reflects off the oil?"
"Look, son! The whales are spouting oil from their blowholes!"
Let's not forget the thrid aspect of these pictures which is not contained within the photo. That would be BP and Transocean, who likely employed some cost cutting measure of which all of us are now the beneficiaries.
I suppose the pictures are a fitting tribute to corporate America as well. What a mess...(and I don't mean the pictures.)
This event should make every person and agency begin planning on obtaining electric cars. We are simply unworthy of this planet. We have to get off gas a.s.a.p. This is sick.
Being someone who does not believe in coincidences, I think that a survey of the maintenance and safety record of BP over the past five years puts everything into perspective, where it appears that doing routine maintenance and focusing diligently on safety are not among of the primary goals of BP, which in the grand scheme of everything tends strongly to suggest that, like so many other corporations at the dawn of the early 21st century, the least qualified group of people in known universe is running the show--specifically, psychopath accountants and their various cohorts, who were described most accurately centuries ago as being penny-wise and pound-foolish . . .
This same thinking is the driving force behind the Luddite plan to shut-down NASA, and the long-term consequences inevitably will be the same, because in the grand scheme of everything "getting small" never works, because the longer it continues the smaller everything becomes until, sooner or later, nothing remains . . .
Switching for a moment to the surreal universe of abstruse conspiracy theories, when one takes the time to discover how the minds of psychopaths work--with the following overview and link to the classic work of Hervey M. Cleckley ("The Psychopath: The Mask of Sanity") being an excellent starting point--I suggest that it is not so entirely off-the-wall to wonder whether the apparent "coincidence" of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurring at a time when in a bit of outstanding practical thinking President Obama has decided vigorously to pursue offshore oil and natural gas exploration and production actually is not the least bit coincidental, instead being an orchestrated event . . .
http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.htm
And there is a bit of supporting evidence for this view in the recent, apparently completely and totally unrelated, plan by De Beers to limit its diamond production, which curiously follows De Beers having significant net losses in recent years . . .
Are the growing numbers of psychopaths becoming so emboldened that they now are resorting to blatant Luddite tactics, or is this simply the inevitable result of mindlessly pinching pennies with little if any consideration of the long-term consequences?
I have no idea, except that if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck, really . . .
Really!
The gulf coast can kiss most of it's tourist dollars and a large part of it's businesses good bye. BP should have started containing or burning off this oil immediately. Where were the fail-safe measures? I hope they bankrupt themselves cleaning up the mess. This is a crime against humanity.
Nice job oil industry. there isn't a failsafe for this type of accident??? how bout a shutoff valve??
bunch of cowboy jackasses.
Thank you for all this great information. Through the links, it is first time I found maps of when it might reach Mississippi.
Note fractal structure of the oil distribution.
It's a fractal world.
I'm no expert on the subject but why not detonate a charge in the well? Wouldn't this collapse the walls of the drilling hole and stop the flow of oil?
Leave it to GREED and heartless Mega Corporations to destroy are beautiful natural resources. Let's hear it for off-shore drilling, where the pay off always fall on the innocent. This is a sad day and we as a nation should need to make changes that can rectify these problems. Unfortunately, all I can really do is PRAY, pray for forgiveness from such a horrible crime.
LET US PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE GULF COAST. THEY SURE DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE.
Oh my! god helps us. I rather ride my horse to work every day. So sad.
Brazil mandates the valve that would have prevented this. BP was able to buy a 3rd world government and avoid the valve so they could make a little more money.
Now who will pay?
This 'small' one in Australia took over 2 months to cap...
http://www.watoday.com.au/environment/cause-of-wa-oil-spill-revealed-20091109-i59k.html
Haven't we all wondered in the back of our minds when this might happen?
May I say that we have went to war over this resource. If we all know our history and what the oil industry is you will see it is vital to continue drilling offshore be it off U.S. waters or overseas. Yes it is dangerous and the side effects thereof are disasterous if the certain aspects that maintain control fail. This event and others prior have and will put in place a series of chain reactions no matter what happens. So before anyone makes any drastic opinions or prejudices please look at the big picture. Untill mankind presents itself with an affordable and reliable alternative energy source and material to replace all that hydrocarbons are used for remember we cannot survive without what many have learned to dislike over the past days. We are all human and anything made by humans will never be perfect.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008103325_alaskatax07.html
Excerpts from 2008 article.
Republicans in Congress this June united to defeat a proposed windfall tax on oil companies, deriding it as a bad idea that would discourage investment in U.S. oil exploration.
Things worked out far differently in the GOP stronghold of Alaska, a state whose economic fate is closely tied to the oil industry.
Over the opposition of oil companies, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska's Legislature last year approved a major increase in taxes on the oil industry — a step that has generated stunning new wealth for the state as oil prices soared.