The Oil Slick Morph Into Letter 'J', the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

メキシコ湾原油流出、海面や海底で目に見えない影響も

NASA has released a very clear shot of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that was taken yesterday by their Terra Satellite:

---

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Gulf of Mexico and the Deepwater Horizon oil slick on May 10 at 16:35 UTC (12:35 p.m. EDT) and captured a visible image with its Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer Instrument.
The oil slick is located southeast of the Mississippi Delta and appears as a dull gray color, almost in the shape of the letter "J." Directly north of the spill is the Alabama/Mississippi border. The area of the gulf where the slick is situated was virtually cloud-free with the exception of some high clouds (lower left, white).

５月１０日 16:35 UTC (12:35 p.m EDT)、NASA の Terra 衛星がメキシコ湾の海洋石油掘削基地「ディープウオーターホライズン（Deepwater Horizon）」の流出油の上空を通過して、受動型画像分光放射計(MODIS)を使って可視画像を撮影した。
流出した油膜は、ミシシッピデルタの南東に位置し、鈍い灰色の、ほとんど文字 'J' のような形として見えている。流出油の北端はアラバマ州/ミシシッピ州の境界線にさしかかっている。油膜が位置する湾のエリアは、いくつかの高雲（左下方、白色）を除いて、実質的に雲はなかった。

Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Photo by NASA, Terra Satellite captured.
May 10 at 16:35 UTC (12:35 p.m. EDT)
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team

About MODIS: http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/

MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites.

Fig: About MODIS / NASA MODIS Web
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/