NASA Sees Dull Gray Oil Slick Morph Into Letter 'J'

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Gulf of Mexico and the Deepwater Horizon oil slick on May 10 at 16:35 UTC (12:35 p.m. EDT) and captured a visible image with its Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer Instrument. The oil slick is located southeast of the Mississippi Delta and appears as a dull gray color, almost in the shape of the letter "J." Directly north of the spill is the Alabama/Mississippi border. The area of the gulf where the slick is situated was virtually cloud-free with the exception of some high clouds (lower left, white).

Image credit: NASA/Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilspill/oil-spill-may10.html

---