Interactive: Spread of oil in the gulf

How the oil slick from the leaking well spread on the Gulf of Mexico's surface since two days after the Deepwater Horizon exploded in April, based on 24-hour forecasts issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The slick has subsided since the well was capped in mid-July.

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Sources: Times reporting, GoogleEarth, Digital Globe, U.S. Geological Survey, ESRI, TeleAtlas. Graphics by Los Angeles Times staff. Interactivity by Lorena Iñiguez Elebee.

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Marchmont at 4:33 AM August 06, 2010

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, less than one-quarter of the estimated 5 million barrels of oil from the Gulf spill remain. The rest has evaporated or been dispersed, skimmed or burned off and is likely to cause much less damage than the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989. This is because the present oil is much lighter so that it degrades faster in the greater volume of water and warmer temperatures of the Gulf. David Boxall, with extensive experience of oil spills in UK waters, says, "It is certainly not the world's worst environmental disaster. In fact it is not even the worst oil spill." Experts now agree that Hayward, demonised by the hysterical US media and politicians, was correct when he said the spill was a “drop in an Olympic-sized swimming pool”.

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