This infographic, published
by Travel Insurance,
illustrates exactly how much
oil has
spilled in the 10 biggest disasters across the globe, including how it occurred and under what circumstances.
But at SkyTruth we have acquired good images often enough to
illustrate the enormity of the
spill and inadequacy of our initial
spill response efforts; provide the first estimate of the
spill size and rate that made any sense; to identify
oil making landfall along the Alabama coast before it was being acknowledged
by officials; to show clear entrainment of the
spill in the Loop Current while officials were actively denying it; and to detect small but chronic leaks from other damaged wells, raising the related issue of inadequate plugging and abandonment.