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Oil Slick Morphology Derived from AVIRIS Measurements of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Implications for Spatial Resolution Requirements of Remote Sensors
Marine Pollution Bulletin
  • Shaojie Sun, University of South Florida
  • Chuanmin Hu, University of South Florida
  • Lian Feng, University of South Florida
  • Gregg A. Swayze, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Jamie Holmes, Abt Associates Inc.
  • George Graettinger, NOAA Ocean Service
  • Ian MacDonald, Florida State University
  • Oscar Garcia, Florida State University
  • Ira Leifer, Bubbleology Research International
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-15-2016
Keywords
  • Oil spill,
  • Remote sensing,
  • AVIRIS,
  • Landsat,
  • MERIS,
  • Morphology
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.003
Disciplines
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.

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Marine Pollution Bulletin, v. 103, issues 1–2, p. 276-285

Citation Information
Shaojie Sun, Chuanmin Hu, Lian Feng, Gregg A. Swayze, et al.. "Oil Slick Morphology Derived from AVIRIS Measurements of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Implications for Spatial Resolution Requirements of Remote Sensors" Marine Pollution Bulletin Vol. 103 Iss. 1-2 (2016) p. 276 - 285
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/chuanmin_hu/214/