Oil slick morphology derived from AVIRIS measurements of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Implications for spatial resolution requirements of remote sensors

Shaojie Sun; Chuanmin Hu; Lian Feng; Gregg A Swayze; Jamie Holmes; George Graettinger; Ian MacDonald; Oscar Garcia; Ira Leifer

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.003

Oil slick morphology derived from AVIRIS measurements of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Implications for spatial resolution requirements of remote sensors

Mar Pollut Bull. 2016 Feb 15;103(1-2):276-285. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.003. Epub 2015 Dec 22.

Authors

Shaojie Sun¹, Chuanmin Hu², Lian Feng¹, Gregg A Swayze³, Jamie Holmes⁴, George Graettinger⁵, Ian MacDonald⁶, Oscar Garcia⁶, Ira Leifer⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 Seventh Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, United States.
² College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 Seventh Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, United States. Electronic address: huc@usf.edu.
³ U.S. Geological Survey, Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center, MS XXX, Denver, CO 80225, United States.
⁴ Abt Associates Inc., 1881 Ninth St, Suite 201, Boulder, CO 80302, United States.
⁵ NOAA Ocean Service, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, United States.
⁶ Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Science Department, Florida State University, 117 N. Woodward Ave., Tallahassee, FL 32306, United States.
⁷ Bubbleology Research International (BRI), 5910 Matthews St, Goleta, CA 93117, United States.

PMID: 26725867
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.003

Abstract

Using fine spatial resolution (~7.6m) hyperspectral AVIRIS data collected over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we statistically estimated slick lengths, widths and length/width ratios to characterize oil slick morphology for different thickness classes. For all AVIRIS-detected oil slicks (N=52,100 continuous features) binned into four thickness classes (≤50 μm but thicker than sheen, 50-200 μm, 200-1000 μm, and >1000 μm), the median lengths, widths, and length/width ratios of these classes ranged between 22 and 38 m, 7-11 m, and 2.5-3.3, respectively. The AVIRIS data were further aggregated to 30-m (Landsat resolution) and 300-m (MERIS resolution) spatial bins to determine the fractional oil coverage in each bin. Overall, if 50% fractional pixel coverage were to be required to detect oil with thickness greater than sheen for most oil containing pixels, a 30-m resolution sensor would be needed.

Keywords: AVIRIS; Landsat; MERIS; Morphology; Oil spill; Remote sensing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Geographic Information Systems
Mexico
Petroleum Pollution*
Water Movements