This picture shows the oil slick off the coast of Louisiana. NASA's Aqua satellite took the picture on April 25, 2010.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of NASA/MODIS.
Huge Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
A large oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire and sank in April 2010. Eleven workers were killed in the accident.
After the oil rig sank, a huge oil slick formed in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil slick is near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Clean-up crews haven't yet (as of April 28th) been able to close off the damaged oil well. Each day about 200,000 gallons of oil are leaking into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil slick has a size of about 600 square miles. It is less than 20 miles from the shore of Louisiana.
The Coast Guard set fire to part of the oil slick to try to get rid of some of the oil. They may try to burn more of it. They hope to stop the oil from coming ashore at wildlife refuges along the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi. If the oil reaches the shore, it would harm birds and other wildlife.
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