The Map Room

The October issue of National Geographic includes a map supplement that shows the Gulf of Mexico’s oil infrastructure; it doesn’t so much map the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as its context. A zoomable version is available online. The verso of the map, a poster showing the Gulf’s ecosystem, is also available online in an interactive version.

With the wellhead capped this is rapidly approaching old news, but it’s still worth admiring the cartographic virtues of the Times-Picayune’s interactive map of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with a timeline from April 20 to July 28. Via Andrew Matranga.

Above, a MODIS image from NASA’s Terra satellite, taken last Saturday, showing the spread of the Deepwater Horizon slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA has released an interactive map that “integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill’s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources — such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships — into one customizable interactive map.” More information here. Via Ogle Earth.

Ted Weinstein sends along a link to this animated map showing the spread of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico since 1942:

The video’s author discusses the maps and data here and here.

Via Boing Boing, Mother Jones looks at a poster map from Offshore magazine (16.6-MB PDF) showing the Gulf of Mexico as a network of drilling leases, pipelines, and other oil and gas infrastructure. “Where most people look at the Gulf, they see a vast marine ecosystem, wetlands, and, until recently, gorgeous beaches. What energy executives see is a massive grid, tangled with scores of oil and gas pipelines and rival fields with macho names that sound like heavy metal bands, black-diamond ski runs, and weapons systems.”

Also via Boing Boing, the American Bird Conservancy has issued a map showing the location of Globally Important Bird Areas in relation to the oil spill.

My entries on this oil spill now have their own category archive.

An image of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico taken on Monday by the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite:

Via multiple sources, this animation is a computer model of how the oil spill might spread based on ocean currents:

It’s now hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; Talking Points Memo reproduces this map showing the paths of hurricanes passing near the Deepwater Horizon platform (shown as a star in the centre of the map) over the past hundred years. (It’s a NOAA map, apparently, but I can’t find the original source.)

Previously: Time-Lapse Video of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill; The New York Times’s Interactive Oil Spill Map; Mapping the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill; Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Update.

NASA has produced a time-lapse video of the expanding Gulf of Mexico oil slick: “This short video reveals a space-based view of the burning oil rig and, later, the ensuing oil spill through May 24. The timelapse uses imagery from the MODIS instrument, on board NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. The oil slick appears grayish-beige in the image and changes due to changing weather, currents, and use of oil dispersing chemicals.” Via Universe Today.

Previously: The New York Times’s Interactive Oil Spill Map; Mapping the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill; Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Update.

The New York Times’s interactive map of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is up to their usual standard; it has a timeline slider and shows currents and sensitive shorelands. Via geoparadigm. Previously: Mapping the Gulf of Mexico Oil…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Uh-oh: “Many of the maps that the federal government depends on to determine which coastal resources are at risk in the event of a nearby oil spill are outdated, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.”…  •  Continue reading this entry.

NASA’s Earth Observatory has posted a number of images of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, taken by the MODIS instruments on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites. The photo above was taken on April 29….  •  Continue reading this entry.