Specific sensors for special roles in oil spill remote sensing

Remote sensing is becoming an increasingly important tool for the effective direction of oil spill countermeasures.Cleanup personnel have recognized that remote sensing can increase spill cleanup efficiency. The general public expects that thegovernment and/or the spiller know the location and the extent ofthe contamination. The Emergencies Science Division (ESD) ofEnvironment Canada, (Canadian government department), is responsible for remote sensing during oil spill emergencies alongCanada's three coastlines, extensive inland waterways, as well as over the entire land mass. In addition to providing operationalremote sensing, ESD conducts research into the development of airborne oil spill remote sensors, including the Scanning LaserEnvironmental Airborne Fluorosensor (SLEAF) and the Laser Ultrasonic Remote Sensing of Oil Thickness (LURSOT) sensor. Ithas long been recognized that there is no one sensor or "Magic Bullet" which is capable of detecting oil and related petroleumproducts in all environments and spill scenarios. There are sensors which possess a wide field-of-view (FOV) and can therefore beused to map the overall extent of the spill. These sensors, however lack the specificity required to positively identify oil and relatedproducts. This is even more of a problem along complicated beach and shoreline environments where several substrates arepresent.The specific laser-based sensors under development by Environment Canada are designed to respond to special roles inoil spill response. In particular, the Scanning Laser Environmental Airborne Fluorosensor is being developed to unambiguouslydetect and map oil and related petroleum products in complicated marine and shoreline environments where other non-specificsensors experience difficulty. The role of the SLEAF would be to confirm or reject suspected oil contamination sites that have beentargeted by the non-specific sensors. This confirmation will release response crews from the time consuming task of physicallyinspecting each site, and direct crews to sites that require remediation. The Laser Ultrasonic Remote Sensing of Oil Thickness(LURSOT) sensor will provide an absolute measurement of oil thickness from an airborne platform. There are presently nosensors available, either airborne or in the laboratory which can provide an absolute measurement of oil thickness. Thisinformation is necessary for the effective direction of spill countermeasures such as dispersant application and in-situ burning.This paper will describe the development of laser-based airborne oil spill remote sensing instrumentation at EnvironmentCanada and identify the anticipated benefits ofthe use of this technology to the oil spill response community.Keywords : Oil spill, remote sensing, scanning laser environmental airborne fluorosensor, thickness, LEAF, SLEAF,LURSOT.