1. Remote Sensing Techniques for
Monitoring Oil Pollution
PhD Student, 705112006
A.Tuğsan ISIACIK ÇOLAK,

2. Objectives
1. Definition of Remote Sensing and RS Applications
2. Marine Pollution
3. Ship Based Oil Polllution
3.1 Illegal Discharging
3.2 Ships accidents involving tankers
4. Different tools to detect and monitor oil spills
5. Conclusion

3. 1. Definition of Remote Sensing
• Remote Sensing is the
broadest sense for the
measuring information
of some property of
objects or phenomenon,
by a recording device
that is not in physical or
intimate contact with
that object or
phenomenon 1
1 Glossary of the Landsat Missions, 2008
Pic. Ref: Introductory Digital Image Processing, 3rd edition 2004

4. Cont.
• Remote sensing systems use technology of analysing
and extracting information by observing, measuring
and recording the electromagnetic radiation reflected or
emitted by the Earth and its environment. 2
2 Fundamentalsof Remote Sensing- A CanadaCenter for Remote Sensing Tutorial

5. Remote Sensing Application Areas
• Agriculture • Marine
– Precision Farming Suite – Ship Detection Service
– Crop Inventory – Marine Pollution
– Land Subsidence • Oil Spill Monitoring
• Forestry – Sea Ice Monitoring
– Strategic Forest Inventory – Marine Gravity Anomaly
Mapping
– Forest extent and type mapping
– Shallow Water Bathymetric
– Bushfire Monitoring Mapping
– Forest Damage Monitoring – Sea State Forecasting &
• Cartography Monitoring
– Environmental Planning Map – Seasonal climatology
– Infrastructure Planning Map – (Wave) Estimation
– Regional Planning Map • Risk
– Land Use Map – Flood Damage Assessment
• Geology
– Fire Damage Assessment
– Geology Structure Map
– Geology Image Map – Storm Damage Assessment
– Digital Elevation Model – Land Subsidence
– Oil Seep Detection – Seismic deformation
– Terrestrial Mineral Deposits – Volcanic activity
Identification
–

6. 2. Marine Pollution
Marine Pollution is great and very troublesome
problem. Marine pollution can be directly or
indirectly by man made source giving energy or
substance to the marine environment. Marine
pollution is created and results hazards to the
marine environment, human, marine life, etc. 3
3 Climate Change and The Use Of The Dıspute Settlement Regime Of The Law Of The Sea Convention,2005

7. Marine Pollution Sources
• Oil Pollution
• Heavy Metals and their products
• Bioaccumulation
• Disposal of Radioactive Materials
• Discharge of Sewage
• Harmful Algal Blooms 4
4 Lal. G, 2010, Presentation on Oil Spill. Disaster Management and Security

8. Major inputs of Oil to the Marine
Environment
– 37% comes from industrial wastes, reach
the sea, via storm water drain, creeks,
sewage and rivers.
– 12% from ship accidents involving
tankers.
– 33% from vessels illegal operations
– 9% absorbed from atmosphere.
– 7% comes from natural sources like
fissures from sea bed.
– 2% during explorations and 4
4 Lal. G, 2010, Presentation on Oil Spill. Disaster Management and Security

9. 3. Ship Based Oil Pollution
• MARPOL defines oil as; petroleum in any form
including crude oil, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and
refined products (other than petrochemicals which are
subject to the provisions of Annex II of the present
Convention) 5
5 IMO, 1978-79, International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships MARPOL Convention, Annex I

10. SHIP’S SURVEY
NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI
Pic Ref: http//wordpress.com/category/marine-transportation/tanker, 2011

11. 3.1 Why Ships Discharge Illegal Oil
Waste and Oily Water to the Sea ?
• Three categories of oily waste generally accumulate
onboard especially on large and very old vessels
 Bilge water
 Sludge
 Oil cargo residue 6
6 İşiaçık Çolak A.T., 2011. Monitoring Ship Based Oil Pollution For Black Sea

12. • The best method for dealing with bilge water, sludge and slop
is storing and delivering ashore as disposal but storing these
oily water and oily products on board causes less cargo
transportation and too much cost for delivering the oily
products a shore as disposal. These are the great reason why
ships make illegal discharging.
Pictures ref: Trieschmann. O, CleanSeaNetSatellite Based Monitoring Services, ,2010
Interpol,Illegal Oil Dischargesfrom Vessels Investigate Manual , 2009

13. Sludge in the Sludge Tank

16. Ship Accidents, Involving Tankers Cause
Serious Oil Pollution.
Pic. Ref: Can, S. Ship based pollution,2008 16

17. Any Accidents with Oil Pollution
Pic. Ref:İşiaçık Çolak A.T., Can S. 2011. INT NAM Ship based Oil Pollution for Black Sea

18. GROUNDING
Pic. Ref:İşiaçık Çolak A.T., Can S. 2011. INT NAM Ship based Oil Pollution for Black Sea

19. COLLISION
Pic. Ref:İşiaçık Çolak A.T., Can S. 2011. INT NAM Ship based Oil Pollution for Black Sea

20. FIRE
Exxon Valdez, March 1989, Alaska
Mega Borg, June 1990, Texas
Cibro Savannah, March 1990, New Jersey
Burmah Agate, November 1979, Gulf of Mexico Pic. Ref: http://geology.com/noaa/major-oil-spills,2010

21. SINKING
Argo Merchant, December 1976, Nantucket Island
Pic. Ref: http://geology.com/noaa/major-oil-spills,2010

22. OIL SPILL

23. Examples for Accidental and
Operational Oil Pollution

24. Uydu Görüntüleriyle Tespit Edilen Kirliliğin Dağılımı
150 ENVISAT picture 100 possible oil slicks.(May 2007 –Jan 2008)

25. The Exxon Valdez oil spill caused the needless death of thousands of animals.

27. Oil incidents versus chronic oil pollution
Amoco Cadiz, March 1978 © CJ Camphuysen

33. •

35. Results of Oil Spill
• Thick oil film covers the surface of water.
• Affects entire marine and natural life.
• Mass fish deaths.
• Nature needs up to 10 years to recover, if oil
reaches the sea bed.

36. Progress of Oil Spill on the Sea Surface

37. Quantifying floating oil

38. • Sample Deepwater Horizon spill aerial photos on 23
June 2010 of
• A Sheen and thin slick.
• B. Fresh surfaced oil in thin slick.
• C. Distant slick.
• D. Same as C, but closer, showing wake bunch-up
and sheen coverage asymmetry.
• E. Dispersant application.
• F. Possible weak Langmuir slick organization and
cloud shadows.
• Platform (P1) identified in E and F to aid orientation.

39. Different Tools to Detect and Monitor
Oil Spills
1-AERIAL OBSERVATION
2-SATELITTE OBSERVATION

40. Different Tools to Detect and Monitor Oil Spills
There are different remote sensing applications for detection of oil pollution/spills
on sea surface. In the electromagnetic spectrum, Oil gives different responses and
signatures to radiation from different wavelengths. Different tools to detect and
monitor oil spills:
– Vessels
Remains necessary in case of oil sampling, but they can cover a very limited area.
-Airborne
• SLAR (Side looking airborne Radar)
• LFS (Laser Fluorosensor)
• MWR (Microwave radiometry)
• IR/UV (Infrared/ultraviolet line scanner)
• FLIR (Forward looking infrared)
• Camera/video
- Satellite
• SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar)
• Optical Sensors

41. 1- AERIAL OBSERVATION

42. Aerial observation can be used for two distinct
purposes
First, it can be carried out routinely, to look for
and suppress operational pollution by ships. In
this case the aims are to:
• detect the pollution
• accurately locate and describe the pollution
• where possible, identify the polluter
in order to:
• assess the pollution (quantity and quality)
• anticipate the evolution of the situation
• prosecute the polluter via a pollution observation
report

43. Secondly, aerial observation is used in the event of an accident,
to assist in recovery and dispersion operations at sea. The
aims of the observation missions are to:
•locate the slicks
•accurately describe the slicks
•map the pollution
in order to:
•monitor the pollution
•adjust drift models
•guide response operations that day
•prepare the response operations for the following days

45. All missions must be prepared. The aim here is
to try to predict what is likely to be
encountered, including the appearance,
extent and location of the slicks. Prepare basic
maps of the zone, on which the pollution can
be mapped and observations noted during the
flight. Clearly indicate on these maps the
orientation, coastline, geographical co-
ordinates, scale...

46. Aerial Observation
Oil Spill Monitoring Tools

47. Pic Ref:Operatıonal Guıde For Aerial Observation,Cedre,2006

48. SLAR

49. • The platform (aircraft or satellite) of an side-looking
airborne radar (SLAR) travels forward in the flight
direction with the nadir directly beneath the
platform.
• The microwave beam is transmitted obliquely at
right angles to the direction of flight illuminating a
swath.
• Range refers to the across-track dimension
perpendicular to the flight direction, while azimuth
refers to the along-track dimension parallel to the
flight direction.

52. Laser Fluorosensor Light
APPLICATION
• Detection of laser-induced fluorescence of crude oils,
petroleum products and water constituents
• Classification of crude oils, petroleum products and chemicals
spilled at sea
• Detection of crude oils, petroleum products and chemicals
floating underneath the water surface
• Measurements of oil film thickness over very thin (optically
thin) oil layers
• Distinction of naturally occuring biogenic surface films (slicks)
from oil spills
• Hydrographic measurements (CDOM, turbidity, chlorophyll-
a)

54. ….
• A lidar is an active sensor which is used to illuminate
objects and to detect and analyse signals which
originate from that object as a result of the
illumination. It thus resembles a radar, however, it
uses the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS) or infrared (IR)
region of the electromagnetic spectrum instead of
microwaves

55. Pulse lasers are used as a light source, since there is a high background
radiation from sunlight in the UV, VIS and IR during the day. Daylight
intensity is almost constant and therefore the signals which originate from
laser pulses illuminating an object can be easily discriminated from the
sunlight-induced background, and lidar can also be used during the day.
Just like radar, it is is possible to measure the distance r between the
instrument and an object by measuring the time lapse t between laser
pulse emission and return of the signal reflected by an object:
r=ct/2
c is the velocity of light. it is possible to measure the depth of the sea floor in
coastal seas down to water depths of about 50 m, and to plot nautical
maps in regions where the waters are not too turbid. Many objects absorb
light and re-emit a fraction of it as fluorescent light. The spectral analysis
of the fluorescent light makes it possible quite often to characterise the
substances of which the object is composed. Lidar instruments which
measure fluorescence are called fluorescence lidar orlaser fluorosensor.
They can be operated aboard an aircraft to analyse physical and biological
parameters of waters such as the turbidity and the algae content, or to
detect marine pollutants

56. IR/UV line scanners
• IR/UV line scanners have been established as
standard tools in airborne oil spill remote sensing for
some time. They are capable of simultaneously
mapping the total extent of the oil spill, from thin
layers (> 0.01 μm thick) through to thick surface oil (>
100 μm thick). The instrument uses two different
sensors:
• an optical detector sensitive to light in the near
ultraviolet (UV) range, typically 320-380 nm, and
• an infrared (IR) detector sensitive to radiation in the
thermal range, typically 8-12 μm.

57. • Typical sensor specifications:
• UV wave-band: λ = 320 - 380 nm
• IR wave-band: λ = 8 - 12 μm
• Scan method: across-track
scanning
• Scan rate: 20 Hz (20 lines per
second)
• Instantaneous Field of View
(IFOV): 2.5 mrad (= 0.014°)
• Field of View (FOV): 90°
• Altitude of operation: ideally
1000 ft

58. • For oil spill monitoring the important parameter
is oil-water contrast. This is usually defined as the
signal from a patch of oil less the signal from
surrounding water divided by the signal from the
water. When the contrast is 0, oil cannot be
detected; negative or positive contrast allows the oil
to be detected if the contrast is greater than the
noise level of the instruments.

59. Oil is detectable in thermal
images for two reasons:
• The thermal emissivity of oil
is lower than that of water.
• The temperature of surface
oil is often different from
the temperature of the
surrounding water.

60. Oil-water contrast in UV images
• UV sensors detect surface oil
because the optical properties of
the oil are very different from
those of the surrounding water:
• Oil has a higher refractive
index than water, particularly in
the UV; so surface oil reflects
more of the incident light from
sun and sky and appears brighter
than the surrounding water.
• In bright sunlight UVA and UVB
radiation can excite oil
fluorescence at wavelengths of
about 360nm and longer; this
sunlight-induced fluorescence
increases as the thickness of the
oil increases.

61. • UV/IR data fusion
• Data fusion is the combination of
data from different sensors to
obtain information that may not
be reliably obtained by single
sensors alone. The technique of
combining UV and IR images in
oil spill detection is based on
several decades of successful oil
detection with UV and IR
cameras and video cameras, and
later with line scanners capable
of producing geo-referenced
digital images. Ultraviolet (UV)
and thermal infrared (IR) sensors
are sensitive to very different
ranges of oil thickness, so by
overlaying images from the two
sensors reliable maps of relative
oil thickness may be produced.

62. • Forward Looking Infra Red
Cameras (FLIR Camera)
are used to gather evidence
of on-going illegal
discharges. FLIR Cameras
can precisely measure
surface temperature
differences - between clean
surface water and any oil
being discharged from a
ship, for instance.

63. • ULTRAVIOLET
Detect oil spills at thin layers, not usable at night, and wind slicks, sun
glints and biogenic material.
• VISIBLE
In the visible region of EM spectrum oil has a higher surface reflectance
than water and absorbs energy showing black or brown signatures, limited
and cause mistakes due to atm. condition . 7
• INFRARED
Emmisivity difference between oil (0.972 μm) and water (0.993 μm) leads
to different brightness temperatures, Therefore, oil layers appear colder than
water in thermal images. For thickness of oil slicks, as the thickness
increases they appear hotter in the infrared images Limited for very thin oil
slicks. 7
7 S. Akar Offshore Oil Slıck Detection With Remote Sensıng Techniques,2007

64. Microwave Sensors - RADAR
Microwave sensors are the most applicable tools for oil slick
monitoring since they are not affected by clouds, haze,
weather conditions and day/night differences.7
Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) operates in the
microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. 8
7 S. Akar, 2007 Offshore Oil Slıck Detection With Remote Sensıng Techniques
8 Woodhouse, I. H. 2006, Introduction To Microwave Remote Sensing

65. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Most common microwave sensor for oil slick detection is SAR.
The main mechanism in detection of oil slicks is the dampening
effect of oil on water. Dampening of sea waves results in reduced
water
radar return from the affected area, so that oil slicks appear as
relatively dark features on the SAR scenes.9
G. Franceschetti, SAR Raw Signal Simulation of Oil Slicks in Ocean Environments 2002
Pic Ref: Yonggang. J, First Institute of Oceanography SOA.2009

66. • The presence of an oil
film on the sea surface
damps out the small
waves due to the
increased viscosity of
the top layer and
drastically reduces the
measured
backscattered energy,
resulting in darker areas
in SAR imagery

67. SAR can be used on both airborne and space borne observational
platforms
Advantage
• Day & night observation.
• All-weather capability.
• High spatial resolution.
• Wide area coverage.
Disadvantage
• No wind.
• Strong winds (above 13m/sec).
• Look – alikes.
Pic Ref: Yonggang. J, First Institute of Oceanography SOA.2009

68. M/T Independenta, Tanker Accident, Big explosion, fire, pollution and tanker
wreck for years at İstanbul Strait
Thank You, Any Question?
Ref. Pic: www.seanews.com.tr/article/HOTN/38403/Marmara-2010-Symposium, 2012