Putting Deepwater Horizon In Context

When dealing with a spill the size of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it can be hard to wrap your head around the sheer size of the numbers. They’re used so casually, but just what do they actually mean? At a current maximum of 60,000 barrels per day (“current” only because estimates have been rising since the spill began), it is now officially the largest spill in US history. That’s a far cry from the original estimate of 1,000 barrels per day publicly stated by Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry. (For a timeline of the evolving spill estimates, check out CNN’s summary).

In an attempt to explain the sheer scale of the disaster, more than a few news outlets and a few enterprising online hobbyists have created maps, videos and interactive tools. Here are just a few of the online demonstrations trying to put some visual context on the Deepwater Horizon disaster and its environmental fallout.

CNN A time-lapse video that shows the expanding, and moving, footprint of the spill.

If It Was My Home Using Google Maps, this site allows you to impose the Deepwater spill onto any location. Imposing the spill on the land we’re familiar with goes a long way to making it seem more real.