The spectacle is remarkable as oil slicks are usually notoriously difficult to spot using such equipment..Visible from space, the giant oil slick oozing towards America's Gulf Coast | Mail Online Home News Sport TV 15C 6PM 14C 5-Day Forecast Visible from space, the giant oil slick oozing towards America's Gulf Coast By Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 3:06 PM on 28th April 2010 Comments (13) Add to My Stories Creeping just 20 miles from America's Gulf Coast, this is the mammoth oil slick threatening to become an environmental disaster in a satellite image taken from space. The spectacle caught on Nasas Aqua satellite using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument is remarkable as oil slicks are usually notoriously difficult to spot using such equipment.Yet in these images, the spills mirror-like reflection as the sun glints off the water is clearly visible. Enlarge Snapshot of disaster: Four hundred miles out in space, Nasa's Aqua satellite has taken pictures of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. In this image from Sunday, the centre of it is about even with the mouth of the Mississippi River The mirror-like sheen of the oil slick is seen in this image taken from space by NASA's Aquatic satellite The enormous spill, which was caused by the April 20 explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, is now around 48 miles long and 80 miles wide. It is believed to be around 600 miles in circumference.Hundreds of hotel owners, fishermen and restaurateurs are fearing for their livelihoods as the slick edges ever closer to the American Gulf Coast. Forecasters say the spill could wash ashore within days near delicate wetlands, oyster beds and pristine white beaches. The spill source is a well on the sea floor which is leaking an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil per day Crews have been powerless to stop thousands of barrels of oil from spewing out of the sea bed since the blast.Eleven workers are missing, pre...
