Spatial and temporal variations of oil spills in the North Sea observed by the satellite constellation of TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X

Abstract

This study investigated the spatial and temporal variations of two groups of oil slicks with similar features that were observed in the North Sea by spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) TerraSAR-X (TSX) and TanDEM-X (TDX) within 13 hours of each other, which were operating in the satellite constellation. Based on the SAR observations and the General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (GNOME) simulations of the oil trajectories, it is unlikely that the oil spills observed by TSX on 21 August 2012 entirely drifted from the oil spills observed by TDX on 20 August. Rather, the oil slicks observed after 13 hours were likely composed of two parts. One part was the new oil spills that started to leak sometime after the first SAR acquisition on 20 August and that were subsequently observed on 21 August. The other part was the older oil spills that had drifted from the original oil slicks observed on 20 August by TDX. The fast weathering of light crude oil and the mixture of oil and water produced in the Forties platforms should contribute to the rapid dispersion and dissipation of the previously observed oil slicks. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the life history of oil spill on the sea surface around offshore drilling platforms.