Remote sensing of oil spills

Abstract

A prerequisite for the control of coastal oil pollution is the development of surveillance techniques which are capable of monitoring large areas of the ocean surface to detect the presence of oil slicks. The U.S. Coast Guard Office of Research and Development is currently engaged in basic and applied research to determine the feasibility of various remote sensing techniques for the detection and identification of oil slicks. To date, several remote detection techniques have shown promise for the detection and surveillance of oil slicks; these were tested in a series of air-borne measurments of controlled oil spills.