Two NASA satellites are capturing images of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which began April 20, 2010 with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. This short video reveals a space-based view of the burning oil rig and, later, the resulting spread of the oil spill. This version updates a previous version of the video through July 14th. The timelapse uses imagery from the MODIS instrument, on board NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. The oil slick appears grayish-beige in the image and changes due to changing weather, currents, and use of oil dispersing chemicals. The oil slick only appears clearly in MODIS imagery when the sun is a a particular angle in relation to the satellite's position as it orbits over the Gulf. In areas where sunlight reflects off the ocean's surface toward the satellite, oil-slicked water usually looks brighter than cleaner ocean water in the region.
(no narration, music only)

This video can be downloaded in full resolution at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10617

Images in this video times series were selected that show the spill most clearly. The full image archive is available at: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov

You can learn more about the oil spill by visiting: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilspill

Imagery and information about the oil spill is also available on NASA's Earth Observatory Natural Hazards Web page: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards

Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f0004_index.html

Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/nasa.gsfc

Or get tweeted by us:
http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard