Operational oil monitoring at sea with spaceborne radar

A project for utilization of ERS-1 SAR data for detection of oil spill at sea was started in 1991 as part of the Norwegian Space Centre's national ERS-1 programme. A pre-operational service utilizing infrastructure for near real-time processing, analysis and distribution has been developed. Tromso Satellite Station took over responsibility for operation of the pilot service in 1994. The service covers two different operational aspects, i.e. near real-time detection and early warning of possible oil spills at sea in close cooperation with national pollution control authorities, and offshore oil exploration activities for oil companies. A phased service development model has been applied. The developments include both service infrastructure and an operational concept. A number of important results regarding the detection capabilities of the ERS SAR have been derived.