Optical Remote Sensing of Oil Spills in the Ocean: What Is Really Possible?

Abstract

Optical remote sensing (ORS) of reflected sun light has been used to assess oil spills in the ocean for several decades. While most applications are toward simple presence/absence detections based on the spatial contrast between oiled water and oil-free water, recent advances indicate the possibility of classifying oil types and quantifying oil volumes based on their spectral contrasts with oil-free water. However, a review of the current literature suggests that there is still confusion on whether this is possible and, if so, how. Here, based on the recent findings from numerical models, laboratory measurements, and applications to satellite or airborne imagery, we attempt to clarify this situation by summarizing (1) the optics behind oil spill remote sensing, and in turn, (2) how to interpret optical remote sensing imagery based on optical principles. In the end, we discuss the existing limitations and challenges as well as pathways forward to advance ORS of oil spills.

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Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Detection of Marine Oil Spills Using an Adaptive Long-Term Moment Estimation Optimizer

“…At present, marine oil-spill detection based on remote sensing mostly lacks on-site measured data to carry out accurate accuracy verification of detection methods [41,42]. In this study, an outdoor experimental setup was built to simulate a real marine oilspill environment.…”