Minor oil spills are often bigger than reported: GMC Member SkyTruth contributes to study of chronic oil spills

January 30, 2013
SkyTruth, Shepherdstown, WV - In collaboration with Gulf Monitoring Consortium member SkyTruth, Florida State University recently presented to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana the findings of a study that found oil spills in the Gulf are often under-estimated. Samira Daneshgar Asl, a FSU graduate student, analysed an extensive set of radar satellite images of detected oil slicks, and found that spills caused by human activity were consistently 13 times larger…

Environmental Impacts From Hurricane Isaac

September 13, 2012
Reposted from Louisiana Environmental Action Network: Despite the fact that we live in an area that gets hit by hurricanes every few years, and has for untold millennia, Louisiana Industry is consistently unable or unwilling to take the steps necessary to prevent environmental impacts due to hurricanes. When a hurricane hits it consistently leaves in its wake a slew of oil spills, lost hazardous material containers and chemical plants and refineries releasing pollution…

Oil Spill! Oil Spill! Sheen! Sheen!

September 13, 2012
By Anna Hrybyk, LABB Program Manager Reposted from Louisiana Bucket Brigade: Fresh from our first Flash Mob shouting “Sheen!” and dancing the Crude-Step 2-Step to Stomp out the Stink on Frenchmen Street, on Monday September 10th, I flew over several oil spills and sheens in the lower Mississippi Delta courtesy of Southwings with volunteer pilot Skipper T. On August 28, 2012 we released a map showing the state’s oil and gas infrastructure that…

Isaac Moves North – Small Oil Slick Sighted at Chevron Platform

August 31, 2012
As Isaac steadily weakens and moves off to the north, the clouds are starting to part over the Gulf of Mexico and workers are making their way back to the offshore platforms that had been evacuated.  Reports of actual and potential oil spills in the Gulf are coming in to the National Response Center, and can be seen on our SkyTruth Alerts map.  Several have caught our eye, including a report from Chevron…

Report Oil Spills to NRC and Gulf Oil Spill Tracker

August 29, 2012
There's some serious speculation that old oil from the 2010 BP / Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf could get churned up from the seafloor, and exposed by erosion of beaches and marshes, as a result of Hurricane Isaac's wind and wave action. And as we've seen in past storms, new leaks and spills can occur from storm-pummeled platforms, pipelines, storage tanks and other facilities. If you do see what you think could be a leak or…

Hurricane Isaac Heading for Shore – MODIS Image

August 29, 2012
Heeeeer's Isaac.... This MODIS / Terra color satellite image of the Gulf was taken at 16:30 hours UTC (1:30 pm Central time). Isaac is now a Category 1 hurricane, with sustained winds of 75 mph, moving steadily toward the northwest at 10 mph. It's expected to make landfall along the Louisiana coast tonight.  Right now it's passing through the offshore oil fields, throwing a right hook at the platforms and pipelines on the east side of…

GMC SouthWings Flight on April 10

July 18, 2012
SouthWings conducted a flight for the Gulf Monitoring Consortium on April 10. The Gulf Monitoring Consortium is a unique partnership of SouthWings, SkyTruth, and the Waterkeeper Alliance that is systematically monitoring oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico with satellite images and mapping, aerial reconnaissance and photography, and on-the-water observation and sampling. For this flight, New Orleans-based volunteer pilot Lance Rydberg flew with Paul Orr, the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, in his two-seat Citabria.…
Who is the Gulf Monitoring Consortium?

Who is the Gulf Monitoring Consortium?

June 20, 2012
The Gulf Monitoring Consortium (GMC) is a rapid response alliance that collects, analyzes and publishes images and other information acquired from space, from the air, and from the surface in order to investigate and expose pollution incidents that occur in the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast region. Our members engage in systematic monitoring of oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico using satellite images and mapping, aerial reconnaissance and photography, and on-the-ground and in-the-water observation and sampling to identify, locate…

More Questions Than Answers

May 23, 2012
The Consortium’s work over the six months of its existence is preliminary and, to date, it has produced more questions than answers. For instance, although we have determined that the number and size of oil spills in the Gulf are greatly underreported, we have significant questions about whether it is possible to determine the magnitude of the underreporting. Likewise, we have significant questions about the best way to optimize use of the resources…

Key Findings

May 23, 2012
In its first six months, the Gulf Monitoring Consortium uncovered systematic problems with the reporting of oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico.  These problems include the failure of responsible parties to report oil spills, underreporting of spills, and inconsistencies in the collection and publication of spill reports by the federal National Response Center.  You can read more about our Key Findings here or read our full report.   Gulf Monitoring Consortium members use…