Oil Spill

http://students.uwf.edu/cnr12/OilSpill.avi

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has been a massive environmental disaster. The oil spill extent increases as thousands of gallons of oil spill into the ocean each day. Such a disaster is accurately tracked using GIS. GIS analysts use sophisticated software to map the oil as the extent, density, and pattern of the oil shift. Many tools are at the finger tips of these analysts to create and portray disaster maps to the U.S. Coast Guard, government officials, and American citizens which help people avoid, clean up, and warn others about the oil. The role of GIS in disasters like these is simple but critical: provide accurate, visual and tabular information to end users to influence correct action. Without GIS, it would be extremely difficult to manage such massive disasters.