Photos: Glowing Oil

[n2doc]

Photograph by Chris Combs, National Geographic

A ghost crab eats oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill, shown glowing yellow-orange under ultraviolet light, at Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola (map), Florida.

Late last week coastal geologist Rip Kirby was on the seashore as part of an effort to detect oil by shining UV lights—widely used to spot blood at crime scenes—on Gulf beaches. The method, he hopes, will allow scientists and cleanup crews to tackle hard-to-spot oil, such as crude mixed with mud or light stains on sand, that's washed ashore from the sinking of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig.

Under UV light, clean sand appears purple or black. Some minerals, such as calcium carbonate in seashells, glow blue, as does a shovel handle in the picture above.





Oily Trench
Photograph by Chris Combs, National Geographic

In a trench dug by a University of South Florida Coastal Research Lab team, layers of oil-stained sand light up orange under ultraviolet light. Clean sand appears violet. (See more pictures of the team's oil-detecting trenches.)

According to graduate student Kirby, UV light could help cleanup crews pinpoint hard-to-see oil that might then be treated with oil-eating bacteria.

more

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/photogalleries/100708-environment-science-gulf-oil-spill-glowing-ultraviolet-pictures/

[Poll_Blind]

1. If it is really this easy to check for continuing oil pollution that's good news.

Because BP said they were going to clean up every motherfucking drop and if it's relatively "easy" for citizens or citizen journalists to show whether they're telling the truth or not.

PB

[Catherina]

2. Horrifying. It looks like a different planet n/t