Nighttime Satellite Image of Gulf - September 25, 2011

As part of our investigation into the report of a fire in the Gulf the night of September 25 (at 7:45 pm local time), we got a few recent low-resolution nighttime images taken by satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). This one was taken at 8:12 pm on the 25th:

DMSP nighttime satellite image taken at 8:11 pm on September 25, 2011. DMSP image and data processing by NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. DMSP data collected by the US Air Force Weather Agency.

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[[Location: 28.483333, -88.250000]]

Slick at 23051 Site - September 26, 2011

Yesterday's MODIS/Aqua image shows a slick that appears to emanate from our old nemesis, the former platform 23051 site that has been leaking since 2004.  The apparent slick is about 20 miles long and covers about 115 square kilometers. Assuming an average thickness of 1 micron (1/1000th of a millimeter), that's 30,705 gallons of oil.  If this slick is at the lower limit of visible detection, 0.1 microns, it's still 3,000 gallons - which is 3,000 times bigger than Taylor reported yesterday to the National Response Center just 30 minutes after this image was taken:

Detail from MODIS/Aqua image, September 26, 2011 showing apparent slick (delineated in yellow) emanating from 23051 site.

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[[Location: 28.938022, -88.970963]]
[[KML: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9UdbG3ddaeCNzMxOGQ4ZjgtMTM0OC00YjZlLTllNGQtZTRmYmYxMDEwNzBm&hl=en_US]]

Fire Reported in Gulf of Mexico

This just caught our eye on the SkyTruth Alerts:  multiple aircraft flying over the Gulf have reported seeing a fire about 60 miles southeast of the tip of the Mississippi Delta, in deep water about 20 miles south-southeast of BP's failed Macondo well. The source of the fire is unknown, and to our knowledge this report has not been verified. But the location given in the NRC report puts this in Mississippi Canyon Block 519, where wells have recently been drilled by Noble Energy and tied back to the massive "Na Kika" platform located in Block 474 a few miles to the northwest. A few small spills of hydraulic fluid have been reported in the vicinity in the past week so we know there is current activity in the area. Read more.

Location of fire reported late last night in Gulf of Mexico.

[[Location: 28.483333, -88.250000]]

KML Test

This is a test.

Location
  [[Location: 38.21342906667445, -80.56692477446556 ]] [[KML: https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B9UdbG3ddaeCNDc0Nzc2ZjQtNWFhZC00YTZjLTkzZWUtMGE4ODljNDFjNWEz&export=download&hl=en_US ]]