Monitoring of Oil Pollution using Earth Observation Data

- M O P E D -

Satellite detection of oil spills with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can now provide reasonably reliable information, but in complex coastal environment it is still a major challenge. A lack of understanding may lead to slicks going undetected, or to an unacceptable numbers of 'false positives'. In the past wind shadow, natural slicks, atmospheric and ocean fronts, and rain cells have all been falsely identified as oil. Difficulties are compounded when there is no a priori knowledge of the occurrence, location or timing of a spill, when volumes are small, or when the oil is mixed with water as it enters the sea – just the type of oil pollution that is most common.

The main tasks of the project teams within MOPED include:

Collection, screening, archiving and analysis of SAR and high resolution optical data, with co-located ancillary data from other sensors and independent sources.
Task Coordinator: Olga Lavrova, belonging to team: IKI RAS.
Retrieval of geophysical parameters influencing the transport, evolution and appearance of oil pollution in SAR and optical data e.g. current-, wind- and wave fields and bio-optical parameters.
Task Coordinator: Sergey Stanichny, belonging to team: MHI NASU.
Experimental studies and development of improved model for radar sensing of pollutant films. Sampling and experimental studies of marine pollutant films and their physical characteristics, which influence their wave-damping capacity, with mathematical modeling of wave-damping and scattering of electromagnetic waves.
Task Coordinator: Stanislav Ermakov, belonging to team: IAP RAS.
Development of improved techniques to forecast oil spill transport and evolution. Investigation of factors affecting oil spill drift in different conditions, leading to improved techniques for reconstruction and forecasting of oil transport.
Task Coordinator: Andrey Kostianoy, belonging to team: SIO RAS.
Development of multisensor algorithms for the monitoring of oil pollution using satellite data.Development of SAR and optical algorithms for oil detection , and recommendations for their use with multi sensor ancillary data and baseline information.
Task Coordinator: Valborg Byfield, belonging to team: NOC LSO.
Exploitation and dissemination of results.
Task Coordinator: Martin Gade, belonging to team: UHH.

Detailed knowledge of the study areas in Black and Caspian Seas, makes the consortium ideally suited to undertaking these tasks. Long experience from ocean remote sensing, field experiments and modeling, and a history of past collaboration, means the teams are likely to achieve their objectives through joint effort supported by efficient communication and project coordination.