USING AIR- AND SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR THE OPERATIONAL OIL SPILL MONITORING OF THE GERMAN NORTH SEA AND BALTIC SEA

Accidental or operational marine oil discharges have a strong impact on the marine wildlife, marine habitats, the economy and the public health. To detect oil spills and to guide combating efforts airborne remote sensing data is used. The German airborne surveillance system consists of two Do 228212 aircraft equipped with a Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR), an IR/UV Sensor, a Microwave Radiometer (MWR), a Laser-Flurosensor and a Forward Looking Infrared Camera. Currently spaceborne remote sensing data is not operationally used for oil spill monitoring in Germany. To investigate if satellite data can enhance the operational oil spill surveillance in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the North Sea and Baltic Sea a combined aircraft and satellite (Radarsat-1 and Envisat ASAR) oil spill surveillance campaign was conducted. The results allow a direct comparison between airborne and spaceborne oil spill monitoring. Possible oil slicks were announced within 1 hour after the satellite overpass. The spatial and temporal coverage of the satellites were analysed. A statistical analysis of the oil spill detection results was conducted. During the campaign 97 possible oil slicks were detected by satellite but not all of the detected oil slicks could be checked by the aircraft (e.g. out of range, bad weather). From the 61 checked oil slicks 34 (56%) could be verified and 27 (44%) were false positives. The spatial coverage of the SLAR on the different pollution control flight routes ranges from 33 % – 65 % in the North Sea and over 93 % in the Baltic Sea. During one year only 32 RADARSAT-1 and 20 ENVISAT images cover the EEZ in the North Sea more tha