Airbus Defence and Space’s Oil Spill Detection Service effectively supports public authorities in charge of prevention and prosecution of oil pollution, as well as monitoring of platform and pipeline operations for oil and gas companies.
Oil Spill Detection after a tanker accident in the Straight of Kerch, Ukraine, based on TerraSAR-X StripMap data
Oil Spill Detection after a tanker accident in the Straight of Kerch, Ukraine, based on TerraSAR-X StripMap data
Oil pollution on the ocean surface can result from non-accidental discharges (incidental losses from vessels, tank flushing, natural seepage) or accidental leakage from damaged ships or offshore installations.
While the former are usually small in extent, they account for a large portion of the overall amount of oil introduced into the marine environment, while the latter are much less frequent but typically involve larger release volumes. In both cases, oil spills are a major threat to the environment and sensitive marine ecosystems.
Rapid detection and effective emergency response actions are therefore needed to identify, contain and recover spilled oil.