The Gulf of Oil from Space on Day 50

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Image courtesy NASA/NOAA

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This image is from NOAA’s Operational Significant Event Imagery site dating 9 June 2010, ten days ago now. But it’s one of the better one‘s I’ve seen so far of the extent of the spill in the larger Gulf of Mexico basin. (Click here for a larger image.) As you can see, there’s a helluva lot of oil out there. And that’s just the surface. Add to this the news that BP said its main vessel capturing oil from the huge Gulf of Mexico spill shut down overnight last night due to a blocked vent, hopefully to restart later Saturday after a lightning storm passes.

BP has now deployed its supposedly green Evergreen Burner to vaporize oil and gas through 12 nozzles from whence it’s burned without producing visible smoke… suggesting yet again that BP is the modern master of smoke and mirrors. Because an industry analysis (pdf) finds the atomizer process to be the safest option for burning oil, but still a producer of all kinds of atmospheric nasties, includiing ozone, sulfur dioxide, and a host of greenhouse gases, including nitrous oxides.