The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) captured this view of the Galapagos Islands on Sunday, 21 January 2001, several days after a tanker ran aground off the western coast of San Cristobol Island releasing thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean creating a spill that had grown from 50 to 117 square miles by the time this image was acquired. Aerial photographs show a large discolored patch in the waters that correspond to a feature seen in the SeaWIFS image.
Two days later the slick had spread further, to a size of 1,250 square kilometers (488 square miles), and reached the nearby island of Santa Fe.
Image provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE
