Reflectance and imaging spectroscopy as a tool to monitor hydrocarbon contamination of bare soils in refineries and along pipelines

This study comprises a comparison between reflectance spectra of soils impregnated or not with hydrocarbons in a pilot area, located inside an area with soils impregnated with hydrocarbons. The spectra investigated here were derived by reflectance spectroscopy in laboratory conditions with the FieldSpec Hi-Res sensor (2150 channels in the VNIR-SWIR range) and extracted from imagery pixels generated by imaging spectroscopy, using the ProspecTIR hyperspectral sensor (with 357 channels in VNIR-SWIR range). The results indicate a substantial equivalence between the compared spectra, not only as regards a wealth of diagnostic absorption features of mineral components, but also some specific features related to the presence of hydrocarbon impregnated in the soils. These observations suggest that this technology has great potential for use in environmental monitoring of bare soils along pipelines and refineries.