Evaluating Oil Spills Using Radar Satellite Imagery

ScanEx Center (Russia) has received and processed Radarsat-1 satellite imagery of the wreck site in the Kerch Strait where on 11th November stormy wind (up to 32 m/sec) and sea disturbance (6-7 points, 5 metre high waves) caused four vessels (dry-cargo ships Volnogorsk, Nakhichevan, Kovel, Khach Izmail (Georgia)) to sink.

Six vessels (dry-cargo ships Vera Voloshinskaya (Ukraine), Ziya Kos (Turkey), Kapitan Izmail (Turkey), barges Dika, Dimetra and floating crane Sevastopolets) to break adrift and take the bottom; two tankers (Volgoneft-139 and Volgoneft-123) to damage. According to Russian Ministry of Emergencies around 1300 of fuel oil spilled in the sea as a result of the wreckage.

The processed imagery acquired by Radarsat-1 satellite on 15th and 16th November shows the location of the sea slicks on the surface in the area of the Kerch Strait and south part of the Azov Sea. These data can be used for planning further actions for emergency spills containment and clean-up, for implementing protective activities (installation of booms) in order to prevent pollution from spreading and protect coastal area. However, lack of a monitoring system did not allow acquisition of operational imagery immediately after the accident since for this particular satellite operations complex the waiting period in case of individual requests is at least three days.

Since summer 2007, RDC ScanEx and NGO Transparent World exercise satellite-based monitoring of the north part of the Caspian Sea for the purpose of operational detection of oil spills on the water surface. Free access is provided to the data located in the relevant geoportal, the project summary is posted on ScanEx website.

Oil slicks are seen on the image of 16^th November due to specifics of the imagery and changes in meteorological situation, in particular sea state and wind. Red dotted line shows the sea area with the biggest number of observed surface film formations.