NASA and NOAA satellite images show surface oil area shrinking

ST. PETERSBURG - There's a noticeable difference between a satellite image of the Gulf oil spill captured a-month-and-a-half ago, and the image from one-day ago.

"Today we're expecting even smaller surface size," said Dr. Chuamin Hu, from USF’s College of Marine Science.

The oil spill on June 12th had bloated to it’s maximum size, 15 times the size of Lake Ocochobee. Satellites show the surface oil area shrunk back to the size of Lake Ocochobee.

"It evaporated. It got eaten by bacteria, consumed. It got weathered," said Hu pointing to satellite maps on his computer screen.

The satellite images shared by NASA and NOAA tell the still unfolding story of disappearing oil, at least on the water's surface. Dr. Hu says much of the surface oil appears to be gone, but scientists are asking, where did the rest go?

"On the shore, the effects are immediately obvious because you have an oil spill. Animals can get covered. We saw some of that. What happens offshore is not that clear," Biologist Oceanographer Frank Mueller-Karger said.

USF scientists say as much as 184 million gallons of oil spewed into Gulf.

They believe some of it is suspended in the water column in underwater plumes. The next step is figuring out just how much, and where the underwater oil's lurking.

The other task is figuring out how the underwater plumes are affecting sealife, small and large and whether the hydrocarbons will disrupt the food chain.

"You have things like large fish like bluefin tuna, mackeral, you had, marlin, all migrating through this area at that time of the year, putting their eggs in the water,” said Mueller-Karger.