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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Oil From Space
December 13, 2007 12:18 PM
South Korean crews are having a tough time with the 2.7 million gallons of oil that spilled from a supertanker last week. The PICTURES, if you haven't seen them, show a mix of filth, despair, and damage that scientists say could last a decade.
Now, here's one more image, taken from space. Click on it to enlarge.
The slick, spreading for close to a hundred miles along the Korean shoreline, was recorded by a European satellite called Envisat, from an altitude of about 500 miles. It's actually a radar image rather than a photo. Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar can see at night and through clouds. As the European Space Agency explains, "oil on the sea surface damps down smaller wind generated waves. It is these waves that reflect the radar signal...causing oil slicks to be seen as dark areas on an otherwise brighter sea."
The largest spill ever remains the Amoco Cadiz, off the French coast in 1978. The Exxon Valdez, banned from American waters by Congress after the spill in Alaska in 1989, was renamed the SeaRiver Mediterranean, and continued to sail until 2002.
Oil companies maintain that major spills are rare, but concede that they're still nasty business.
December 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)
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the oil companies are 'nasty business'
Posted by: Brian birchall, rancher | Dec 13, 2007 12:46:26 PM
Oil slick
Posted by: Jerry Webber | Dec 13, 2007 1:24:00 PM
And mankind leaves yet another greasy, filthy footprint on the carpet. It's not as though we're stupid, just arrogant and insouciant. Sadly, it will catch up to us sooner than we think, and at such a time that we will not be able to correct it. Then, the fun begins.
Posted by: Andy | Dec 13, 2007 1:36:08 PM
I believe the oil companies believe our children will need to bear the costs of the continuing damage until they can find a way to charge the consumer more. Right now profits come first.
Posted by: Deputy Dawg | Dec 13, 2007 1:46:19 PM
Can you say "double hulled ships", the oil tanker fleet is full of old tankers without double hulls, country's need to mandate that no tanker without a double hull can sail in their territorial waters
how long will this be an issue
Posted by: Neal | Dec 13, 2007 2:27:34 PM
Go rent the movie "Chain Reaction".
Posted by: Gerald | Dec 13, 2007 2:29:20 PM
When will Exxon pay their court fine? With the record profits they've posted, we know they can afford it!
Posted by: Ted | Dec 13, 2007 3:30:57 PM
The major oil companies say that these kinds of spills are rare, but if they only happen say once a decade and if it takes around a decade for each spill to be corrected. Doesn't that mean it's a perpetual problem? I'm inclined to agree that some drastic measures need to be taken concerning these ships abilities to enter territorial waters or for that matter be allowed to carry oil at all. But that would entail every country that uses oil to say the same thing. I don't think that will happen because someone will allow them to come to their port and get the cheap oil. But if enough of the big users tell the oil companies this, maybe it could.
Posted by: joe sylvester | Dec 15, 2007 2:37:04 PM
Looks like a picture from the surface of Titan!
Posted by: Andrew | Dec 24, 2007 8:28:32 PM
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