Images: Massive oil spill imperils Gulf Coast

by CNET News.com | April 30, 2010 1:05pm PDT | Image 1 of 19

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Mexico close to the Louisiana shore exploded and, two days later, sank. At least eleven workers were killed in the accident.

The explosion, fire and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon has resulted in a massive, and still continuing, oil spill and slick that is threatening the coast line throughout the Gulf region states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Now, as emergency response teams from a wide range of agencies try to plug the leak, which is said to be located at 5,000 feet below the surface, there is no known method for ceasing the oil spill or for fully containing the slick. Many people expect an ecological catastrophe along the coast, and in the region of the spill, even as many methods are being used to contain the spill.

Here, the oil slick is seen on April 29 near by the NASA Earth Observatory - NASA's Aqua satellite, and the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.

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