Each year, tons of oil can be spilled into the ocean. Whether it comes from an oil tank spill, a leak that occurs during offshore drilling, or even natural seeps that occur within the ocean, oil spills can cause grave environmental and economic damage to marine and coastal ecosystems.
Tag:
clean-up
The U.S. government last week launched an interactive resource that allows the public to follow developments in the BP oil spill and ongoing response efforts in “near-real-time.” Originally designed as a way to keep participants in the vast clean-up effort informed, the GeoPlatform uses the latest information from various federal, state, and local organizations to track the spill’s path, identify closed fishing areas and threatened coastal zones, and to map the latest response efforts. Numerous agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard and the