Multi-sensor satellite survey of surface oil pollution in the Caspian Sea

The results of long-term satellite survey of the aquatic area of the Caspian Sea are presented. The patterns of surface oil pollution of the Caspian Sea are described and analysed. It is demonstrated that surface oil pollution is often caused by natural causes, namely by natural hydrocarbon seepages and mud volcanoes activity on the sea bottom. A combined analysis of oil film signatures in satellite radar and optical imagery data is performed. Mapping of the main types of surface pollution of the Caspian Sea is performed and areas of the heaviest pollution are outlined and analysed. Dependence of radar signatures of sea surface oil patches on the wind/wave conditions is investigated. The large amount of the data available allowed us to make some generalizations and obtain statistically significant results on a spatial and temporal variability of various sea surface film manifestations in SAR images. The impact of dynamic and circulation processes and natural factors (current meandering, vortical activity, temperature and wind patterns) on spatial and temporal distributions and intensity of oil films is studied. The connection between manifestations of natural seepages and mud volcanoes and earthquake activity in South Caspian and adjacent areas is established.

[1]  Werner Alpers,et al.  The role of the critical angle in brightness reversals on sunglint images of the sea surface , 2010 .

[2]  Juris Aigars,et al.  Oil Pollution in the Baltic Sea , 2014 .

[3]  Martin Gade,et al.  Remote Sensing of the European Seas , 2008 .

[4]  D. Chandler.  Physical chemistry: Oil on troubled waters , 2007, Nature.

[5]  H. Espedal.  Satellite SAR oil spill detection using wind history information , 1999 .

[6]  Stanley J. Jacobs,et al.  Wave damping by a thin layer of viscous fluid , 1997 .

[7]  A. Solberg,et al.  Oil spill detection by satellite remote sensing , 2005 .

[8]  A. Marçal,et al.  Global developments in environmental earth observation from space. Proceedings of the 25th EARSeL Symposium, Porto, Portugal, 2005. , 2006 .

[9]  Debi Kilb,et al.  Correlations between earthquakes and large mud volcano eruptions , 2007 .

[10]  W. Alpers,et al.  The damping of ocean waves by surface films: A new look at an old problem , 1989 .

[11]  H. Hovland,et al.  Slick detection in SAR images , 1994, Proceedings of IGARSS '94 - 1994 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[12]  C F Cox,et al.  Oil on troubled waters , 1886, Nature.

[13]  N. V. Evtushenko,et al.  Oil seeps in the southeastern Black Sea studied using satellite synthetic aperture radar images , 2013, Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics.

[14]  S. Ufermann,et al.  Using ERS-2 SAR images for routine observation of marine pollution in European coastal waters , 1998, IGARSS '98. Sensing and Managing the Environment. 1998 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Symposium Proceedings. (Cat. No.98CH36174).

[15]  Steven G. Ackleson,et al.  Natural Oil Slicks in the Gulf of Mexico Visible From Space , 1993 .

[16]  C. Purves,et al.  Radar Imagery of Oil Slicks , 1973, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[17]  Heinrich Hühnerfuss,et al.  On the reduction of the radar backscatter by oceanic surface films: Scatterometer measurements and their theoretical interpretation , 1998 .