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Any Ideas for a Natural Resources Column? visit its Web site at GeoPlatform.gov /gulfresponse. I played around with this multilayered tool, and there’s truly a wealth of information there that I recommend checking out. POSITION BY TODD DANIELSON More Geospatial Tools ESRI also has an interesting spill site at www.esri.com/services/disaster-response /gulf-oil-spill-2010. It features a unique Social Media Map as well as Timeline and Economic Impact maps. I found the Timeline map to be very helpful, as it provides a great summary of the major “headlines” during the growing weeks of the disaster. Through a clever “slideshow map,” it was shown how estimates of the spill went from 1,000 barrels a day in the beginning, to 4,000 a day, and then to 12,000, and then to 60,000 barrels a day spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully, we’ll know the disaster’s true magnitude by the time you read this. It should be noted that it was scientists, using plume modeling and other geotechnology, who ﬁrst measured and reported that BP’s original estimates of the spill were grossly underestimated. They were the ﬁrst “unbiased eyes” that forced the petroleum companies to begin to report the true nature of the catastrophe. Remote sensing also has played a major role in monitoring the oil spill, as imagery of the slick is a common scene on every major news service. We also learned that remote sensing isn’t a perfect way to assess an offshore oil leak (though not the data’s fault). Original spill estimates were partially too low because it was thought that all the oil would show up as a slick on the surface. Scientists are only now realizing the major role that subsurface plumes hold in such an event. Of course, the list of geotechnology being used to monitor and lessen this tragedy could fill this entire magazine. And I’m sure we’ll donate more G eoWorld p ages to this subject in the future. I’m just sorry that most of the times our industry is “front and center” in the media and peoples’ minds seem to be during wars and natural disasters. he theme for this month’s issue of GeoWorld is Natural Resources. We have several great articles dealing with water and forests and how to best map, monitor and catalog natural resources, so we’re in good shape there. But I also have to write a column about natural resources, and I’m stumped. It’s too bad that I can’t write about some current event that involves natural resources. It would be even better if it could incorporate mapping, modeling, remote sensing and the other geospatial technologies in our industry. But I’ve checked The Google, and there’s just nothing out there that satisﬁes these criteria. Oh well … T Deepwater Who? Oh, that’s right. There is that little incident that began on April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling well exploded and began leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Obviously, what’s been going on in the Gulf is no joking matter, but it was the easiest connection of magazine theme and current event that I’ve ever had to make. Geospatial technology has been evident from the very beginning of this catastrophic disaster. Government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been monitoring the situation from its inception. We wrote in our June 2010 issue about a NOAA ship, the Thomas Jefferson, which coincidentally was tasked to map the Gulf Coast a mere two weeks before the BP oil leak (see “NOAA Ship Mapping Gulf Floor,” GeoWorld, June 2010, page 8). Since then, the ship has been re-tasked to monitor the spill. To see NOAA’s interactive map of the spill and relief efforts in the gulf, Todd Danielson is editor of GeoWorld magazine, PO Box 773498, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477; e-mail: tdanielson@geoplace.com. 4 GEOWORLD /JULY2O10

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