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NASA Images Show Oil's Invasion Along Louisiana Coast

Follow up to postings on the Gulf Coast oil spill, this news release: “These images, acquired on May 24, 2010 by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft, show the encroachment of oil from the former Deepwater Horizon rig into Louisiana’s wildlife habitats. The source of the spill is located off the southeastern (bottom right) edge of the images. Dark filaments of oil are seen approaching the shores of Blind Bay and Redfish Bay at the eastern edge of the Mississippi River delta, and also nearing Garden Island Bay and East Bay farther to the south. These areas are home to many varieties of fish. To the north, the arc-shaped pattern of land and runoff is associated with the Chandeleur Islands, which are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is the second oldest in the United States and is a habitat for dozens of seabird, shorebird and waterfowl species. Oil is reported to have reached the islands on May 6. Eighteen days later, this image shows filaments of oil crossing the island barrier — which had been heavily eroded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — and entering the Breton and Chandeleur Sounds.”

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