Oil spill remote sensing : laser fluorosensor demonstration flights off the east coast of Canada

This paper presents the results of nine oil spill remote sensing flights which were conducted in the North Atlantic and Newfoundland coastal waters in February and March 2004 with Environment Canada's DC-3, C-GRSB equipped with Scanning Laser Environmental Airborne Fluorosensors (SLEAF). The flights detected more than 200 patches of light oil, most of which were in the Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Race and into Placentia Bay. Geo-referenced infrared, ultraviolet, colour video and digital still imagery was collected with the laser fluorosensor data. The oil patches were very light and could only be detected by the laser fluorosensor. The finding indicates that there is significant (although currently legal) oil discharging activity by ships in the area. There was no trace of oil over the northeastern coastal waters, or near the exploration rigs near Hibernia and Terra Nova. The study emphasized the importance of using specialized instrumentation to detect spills, because even experienced response personnel could not see the lighter oils with routine air surveillance due to difficult viewing conditions. 25 refs., 9 figs