Expression of hydrocarbon on sea surface and its remote sensing detection: Taking the South China Sea area as an example

Abstract

To timely acquire the distribution information of hydrocarbon oil slick on the sea surface and track the generation and evolution of oil slick, the satellite simultaneous SAR observation experiment has been conducted in South China Sea. The oil slick was generated at regular intervals. The Cosmo X-SAR with high resolution was used to study the features of spatial-time evolution of oil slick spread on the sea surface. Through twice satellite imaging (half an hour interval) on hydrocarbon slick on the sea surface, the inversion analysis of SAR backscatter features has been conducted and it is thought that the damping effect of oil slick on sea surface waves changes with the trend from increasing to decreasing during the period of oil slick spread. Oil slicks break at weak link locations with relative low backscatter features along the main spreading axis. Drifting speed of oil slick is stable under the conditions of low wind speed on the sea surface. Remote sensing has been proven to be a powerful tool for oil slick detection due to its fast acquisition, low-cost and regional observation capability, which has great significance for the potential prospect evaluation in the early stage of offshore petroleum exploration and for the safe surveillance in the offshore petroleum development. Key words: hydrocarbon oil slick, time-spatial evolution, Cosmo X-SAR, SAR detection, South China Sea