Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite
Thursday, June 3. 2010
SSTL’s satellite imaging subsidiary DMCii has used its UK-DMC2 satellite to monitor the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.
Satellite imagery is being supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Geological Survey (USGS) following an activation of the International Charter : Space and Major Disasters.
UK-DMC2 Image (C) DMCii, 2010.
UK-DMC2 and its five siblings in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites are able to provide daily imaging of the oil slick if required, detecting changes in the spill and tracking changes in direction. Current reports indicate that the oil click is moving towards the Florida coastline, having already reached land and affected Louisiana fisheries.
The DMC satellites use specially designed SSTL imaging payloads to image the Earth at resolutions between 4m and 32m across an ultra-wide 600km-plus swath (width).
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