NASA Earth Observatory: Oil Slick in the Timor Sea
By Rebecca Lindsey, NASA’s Earth Observatory More than two months after a blowout at a newly dug oil well, crude oil and gas condensate continued to leak into the Timor Sea, between northwest Australia and Indonesia. According to news reports, the company responsible for the leaking well has tried to cap it three times without success. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the Timor Sea on October 28, 2009. The top image shows a regional view of the area around the damaged oil platform (location indicated by a small circle), and the bottom image shows a close-up view of the oil slick. The oil slick appears as patches and streaks of dark blue compared to the surrounding ocean, which is a washed-out blue. …
