[SatNews] By May 17, 2010, the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico had spread south, extending a long tendril well south of the oil platform where the April 20 accident occurred.


The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image. A substantial portion of the slick lingers near the Mississippi Delta. An long, relatively thin extension of the slick stretches toward the southeast. Sunglint — sunlight bouncing off the ocean surface and into the satellite sensor — helps illuminate the slick. A coating of oil smoothes the sea surface relative to the oil-free water, causing it to reflect light differently. In this image, the slick appears as an uneven shape of varying shades of gray-beige.