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Satellite images captured aerial views of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a week after Hurricane Ida hit the area.
Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, in Category 4 hurricane on August 29, bringing sustained winds of around 240 km / h, torrential rains and a powerful storm surge, causing flooding along much of the coast. The hurricane also appears to have caused a large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, visible from space in September 4 images captured by a Maxar Technologies satellite.
Divers identified a ruptured pipeline, located about 3 kilometers south of Port Fourchon, as the underwater source of the spill. The pipeline, measuring 1 foot (30 centimeters) in diameter, was moved from a trench on the ocean floor during the storm, causing it to burst, the Associated Press reported.
Related: Hurricane Ida from space: photos of astronauts and satellites
Satellite images show oil slicks, or streaks of dark brown and black oil floating on the surface of the water, near the East Timbalier National Wildlife Refuge, south of Port Fourchon.
Clean-up crews are working in the area to mitigate the oil spill, which stretches at least 10 miles and appears to be drifting east along the Gulf Coast, according to the Associated Press. The broken pipe is located in relatively shallow water, about 34 feet (10 meters) deep.
So far, reports suggest that the oil spill remained at sea and had no impact on the Louisiana Shore. While crews have yet to provide an estimate of how much oil has seeped into the water, the rate at which oil appears to the ocean surface has slowed, according to the report from the ‘Associated Press.
Divers investigating the area have also found two other smaller pipelines that are open and apparently abandoned. Although it is not clear whether these pipelines, which measure 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, are also oil leak, Maxar’s satellite images show at least three different slicks in the same area.
Talos Energy, a Houston-based company, hired Clean Gulf Associates – a nonprofit oil spill response cooperative – to mitigate the spread of the oil. The oil company is also investigating the cause of the leak, although it said the broken pipeline did not belong to it.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also shared aerial views captured on September 2 of the area where the oil spill occurred. NOAA footage shows a dark streak – an indication of thick, heavy oil – surrounded by a rainbow sheen, The New York Times reported.
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