Although oil has been observed in the Sound, it is unlikely that all the bright patches of water in that area are thickly oil-covered.

经管在密西西比湾已经观测到石油的存在，但是该水域所有的明亮水体并不能都认为是被厚油层覆盖。

youdao

The good news is a hurricane can break up patches of oil slick.

好处是飓风能驱散成片的水面浮油。

youdao

The oil comes ashore in floating patches that stain the coral black and gray.

浮在海面上的片片油污漂到岸上，把珊瑚都染成了黑灰色。

youdao

The challenge is to pick out oil from other dark spots, such as shadows made by clouds or patches of seaweed.

VOA: standard.2010.07.05

Off the coast of Louisiana, thick patches of goopy oil.

VOA: standard.2010.06.08

But this thing has evolved from the start, and from a massive monolithic oil spill to thousands and hundreds of thousands of small patches of oil.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

And we have small Coast Guard patrol boats that can actually do scouting, work with the vessels of opportunity, to identify the small patches of oil and deal with it there.

WHITEHOUSE: Daily Press Briefing

The question for us and the challenge for us is get quicker and agile where smaller units can get to back-bay shallow areas, and work offshore to find smaller patches of oil and deal with them as quickly as we can moving forward.

WHITEHOUSE: Daily Press Briefing