The result of the analysis distributed to the customer includes: - Time of observation
- Position in Latitude/Longitude.
- Confidence assignment of the identified spill.
- If a potential source could be identified, this information is included in the message.
- Predicted wind information from numerical models
- SAR based wind information
The KSAT web portal provides access to the oil spill service, and offers data search and retrieval functionality, map based dynamic and interactive viewing, overlaying of datasets, interactive user reporting facilities and some data manipulation functions, as illustrated herein. KSAT supports most commercial satellites today, e.g. including Radarsat, Cosmo-Skymed and TerraSAR, but also optical missions. The actual selection might be a function of the coverage frequency at a specific location, the delivery times, local and national regulatory requirements, and budgetary constraints. KSAT has a broad expertise to carefully match what is technically possible in a given location to the needs and capabilities of the end user. In case of a large incident, KSAT can include additional satellites to increase the monitoring frequency, introducing optical satellite coverage, or modifying the defined area of interest. This was demonstrated during the large accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Figure 1: SAR image from the west coast of Norway. An oil spill is visible in the middle of the image, and several vessels are also detected. The AIS positions with tracks (indicated as icons with green boats and green lines) are overlaid the image, and the potential source is identified. Copyrigth raw data ESA, 2009 Satellite radars are in general capable to detect oil spills at wind speeds ranging from app 5m/s up to 18 m/s. The detected features include mostly mineral oil, but also plant oil, fish oil, chemical spills and algae blooms. Three different confidence categories are assigned to a spill, Low, Medium or High, depending upon a set of observation feature and sea state description criteria. User verifications show that more than 2/3 of the reported High confidence spills are real spills. These customers use the service information to coordinate and perform more efficient operations of the surveillance aircrafts. Identification of the potential source has become very important for the users. KSAT uses AIS data in combination with the satellite radar to identify and report about who might be the most likely polluting source. It is then up the user to take the next step for final identification and eventual prosecution. The figures show examples of the detected and reported features, as well as examples of combined use of satellite and AIS data. The KSAT multimission service utilises in principle any satellite radar mission, as opposite to those relying only on a single mission. This showed very useful when Envisat was lost, where KSAT could continue to support the customers by using Radarsat and TerraSAR. Recently KSAT has included global data reception and processing capabilities for Cosmo-Skymed. KSAT has been a pioneer in developing the service since its start. The service reliability is accepted among the customers, and new missions like Sentinel-1 and Radarsat Constellation will ensure service continuity. KSAT were the lead provider in establishing the European use and since then we have focused on the global market. Today KSAT is serving customers in Europe as well as in America, Asia and Australia. For the coming years we expect a strong global growth, and KSAT will be present to serve these markets. Figure 2: Pipeline rupture outside India. January 2011. Radarsat satellite radar image (upper) and aerial photo documentation (lower). Copyright raw data MacDonaldDettweiler, 2011 |