The federal government and media is reporting that the BP gulf oil spill has disappeared but satellite photos show a slick covering over 12,000 square miles of the Gulf.
According to John Amos over at Sky Truth all of that oil that magically disappeared isn’t going away just yet.
Yesterday’s MODIS and RADARSAT images show something we didn’t expect: slicks and sheen spanning nearly 12,000 square miles. Based on other reports, and the recent trend on satellite images indicating steady dissipation of the surface oil slick, we are optimistically assuming that nearly all of this is very thin sheen.
Speculation: winds from Bonnie obliterated most of the thin sheen throughout the area; but since then, sheen has had time to “reassemble” into observable layers that noticeably affect the sunglint on MODIS images, and the backscatter on radar, but may not look like much to folks out in the Gulf on vessels or in low-flying aircraft. That’s our theory at this point. Chime in if you have other thoughts about what we’re seeing on these images:
BP Gulf Oil Spill Satellite Image July 28th, 2010
The MODIS / Aqua satellite image above, taken at 2 pm Central time on July 28, shows oil slicks and sheen (encircled with orange line) that we think are likely attributable to the BP / Deepwater Horizon oil spill, spread out across 11,832 square miles (30,644 km2) in the Gulf of Mexico. We’ve marked the eastern edge of a persistent ocean-color anomaly with a dashed line; this anomaly may simply be related to the Mississippi River discharge, or could indicate an area where ocean chemistry has been affected by oil, dispersant, and/or dissolved methane from the spill and cleanup response. Three small slicks attributable to natural oil and gas seeps are also marked.
BP Gulf Oil Spill Satellite Image July 28th 2010 With Infrared Analysis
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Read more satellite analysis at SkyTruth –>
I tend to agree with the speculation about Bonnie dispersing the oil beneath the surface and now that the waters have calmed, the oil is resurfacing.
I actually see the phenomenon with the oil in the bay around my house.
When the wind is blowing or if there is even a slow current from the tide I can’t see any oil in the water.
But when the winds are calm during slack tide you can see oil throughout the entire bay and can sometimes actually watch it rise to the surface.
Since then I have continued to see oil in the water and have on occasion videotaped it and taken pictures.
One example is this video taken July 7, 2010, which shows my lagoon filled with droplets of water and the oil floating to the surface from underneath the water.
The video above was taken at my house which I located on point A on the map below.
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Also notice the large slick of oil off the coast of the Louisiana and Mississippi coast.