Multi-sensor assessment of accidental oil spills in the Bay of Campeche

Abstract

The Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico is abundant with oil reservoirs and is also full of oil platforms and oil seeps. Accidental oil spills occasionally occur, as was the case with the most recent one linked to an explosion on the Nohoch Alfa platform on 7 July 2023, which was captured by multi-sensor satellite imagery (including radar, optical, and thermal data). In addition, we found another continuous and larger extended oil spill from a nearby platform. This latter spill had already occurred before the reported explosion, as evidenced by the satellite imagery captured on 6 July 2023. The spill area on July 6 was about 367 km2, and large portions (~16.5%) of the spilled oil were emulsified. From July 6 to July 24, about 1250 km2 of the ocean was polluted due to the cumulative impact. Continuous oil spill from deep waters was also found from the thermal imagery. These findings suggest that multi-sensor satellite imagery, combined with appropriate algorithms, can be used to monitor and assess oil spill events, which also provides information that is otherwise impossible to obtain from other sources.