See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/268360266

Use of satellite technology for operational pollution monitoring, source

detection and identification

Article · January 2010

CITATIONS READS

0 271

5 authors, including:

Marte Indregard Tony Bauna

Kongsberg Satellite Services Kongsberg Satellite Services AS, Norway, Tromsø
11 PUBLICATIONS   77 CITATIONS    8 PUBLICATIONS   64 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Tony Bauna on 19 May 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 USE OF SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY FOR OPERATIONAL POLLUTION MONITORING, SOURCE
DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION

Marte Indregard, Jan Petter Pedersen, Line Steinbakk, Tony Bauna, Børre Pedersen

Kongsberg Satellite Services AS, Prestvannveien 38, 9291 Tromso, Norway,

Tel:+47 77600278, Fax:+47 77600299
Email: marte.indregard@ksat.no

KEY WORDS: Satellite, SAR, Oil spill monitoring, Vessel detection

ABSTRACT: Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) is a world leading provider of space based information. One of
the main focuses is use of satellite technology for marine applications. KSAT utilises the company’s ground segment
facilities in Tromsø, Svalbard, Grimstad and Troll (Antarctica), to obtain global access to the data. Illegal and
accidental discharges of oil from vessels and oil rigs can cause significant damage to the marine environment and may
also have a large financial impact. Satellite radar data has proven to be an efficient tool to assist users in detecting
potential oil slicks and locate polluters. Information from the satellites are used as basis for the end users decision on
further investigation e.g. by patrol boats and aerial surveillance. Oil spills that impact shorelines are considerably
more expensive to clean up than ones which can be dealt with offshore. Fast detection and early warning of oil
pollution is crucial to initiate actions before the oil drift on shore. KSAT provides an operational oil spill detection
service based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. Users are agencies responsible for monitoring pollution,
environmental protection and the offshore oil and gas industry. The service has been used operational in Europe for
many years and a KSAT lead consortium has provided the pan-European satellite based oil spill detection service to
the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) since 2007. The KSAT vessel detection service provides vessel
positions from SAR and optical satellite images, integrated with identity information from land or satellite based AIS
(Automatic Identification System). By correlating the satellite based information with other identification systems,
non-reporting vessels can be identified and reported. The vessel detection service is also used in combination with the
oil service for detection and identification of potential polluting sources.

1. INTRODUCTION

Marine surveillance is important for environmental protection and sustainable management of the Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ) of coastal nations. National legislation and international agreements exist to prevent illegal
activities such as; oil pollution, fisheries incursion and smuggling. The majority of European coastal nations have
already dedicated marine surveillance programs. These programs are operated by national authorities and are based
on a combination of coastal radar, airborne and vessel surveillance systems. European coastal nations have utilized
satellite monitoring as an integrated part of their surveillance system, and since 2007 the European Maritime Safety
Agency (EMSA) has been responsible for a pan-European oil spill detection service called CleanSeaNet (CSN).

The recent accident in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated the usefulness of satellite imagery data for an updated
monitoring of the extent of the spill. Satellite data has been used for regular monitoring for years, but this accident was
the first where an emergency type service aimed at utilizing all relevant satellite missions was set-up. Continuous
monitoring of the extent of the spill was important towards the politicians and the public, and the satellite derived
information was very useful. Following the accident, KSAT has recognized an increased interest among the offshore
oil companies towards an extended satellite based monitoring of the offshore oil fields.

Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can provide large area coverage of the Earth’s surface independent of
weather and light conditions. SAR has thus evolved to become one of the most important sensors for operational
monitoring of the marine environment. KSAT in Tromsø, Norway has provided an operational service utilizing
satellite SAR images for detection of oil spill since 1998. The continuing development into an operational service has
been conducted in close cooperation with key end- users, starting with the Pollution Control Authority in Norway as
the first user (Steinbakk et al, 2004), (Pedersen et al, 2005). The full operational utilisation of this service is now under
the responsibility of EMSA where KSAT plays a leading role.

Vessel detection is another service with a strongly increasing interest. The piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden and
along the Coast of Somalia has shown that there is a need for new tools in retrieving information from ocean areas.
Satellite derived information have become an important and complementary source of information in maritime
surveillance and monitoring systems given its global reach. Detection, tracking and identification of larger vessels by
using satellite technology are well established. The challenge is to detect the small and fast boats that may represent
the largest threat to the regular vessel traffic. These developments are now being included in the new development
opportunities at national and regional levels including ESA/GSE and EU Framework programs.

2. MULTIMISSION MARINE SATELLITE MONITORING SERVICES

The KSAT oil spill and vessel detection service (as illustrated in Figure 1) includes SAR and optical satellite data
acquisition and processing, reception and integration of non-space data into the analysis process, image analysis and
interpretation, followed by early warning to the customer as well as information ingestion into the service web-server.
It also includes a dialogue with the users to harmonise the coverage requirements which are being used for satellite
tasking requests and aircraft operations coordination. A dedicated service workstation is applied for multi-source data
ingestion and integration, information extraction, presentation and dissemination. The operator utilizes satellite data
integrated with meteorological data and geographical information during the analysis and interpretation process. The
oil spill analysis still relies upon interactive human interpretation, while the vessel detection is done automatically
(Pedersen et al, 1998). KSAT operating engineers have analysed several thousands of SAR images, and thereof
developed their experience and knowledge on interpretation of SAR images in terms of identifying possible oil spills.

The users are informed about possible oil spills and/or vessel detection report within 30 minutes after data acquisition.
A user like EMSA receives both the image data and the service information, while other users receive only the email
report with the results from the analysis. The complete service information is also made available at the customer’s
web-page.

Figure 1: KSAT oil and vessel detection service chain.

The main data sources for the space based services are satellite data and Automatic Identification System (AIS) data.

2.1. Satellite data

KSAT uses radar satellites to allow operations independent of daylight and weather conditions, and optical satellites
to increase temporal frequency and include detection and identification of smaller vessels. The radar satellites
selected for these services are satellites which can provide data within an acceptable delivery time and operational
performance. Currently the European satellite ENVISAT and the Canadian satellite RADARSAT-2 have proven
performance within the KSAT specifications. In addition KSAT is experienced in using i.a. TerraSAR-X,
Cosmo-Skymed, WorldView-1, WorldView-2, Aqua, Terra, QuickBird and Kompsat-2.
2.2. Satellite Automatic Identification System (SAT-AIS)

AIS data represents one of the most important sources for target identification. For the oil spill service, AIS data is
used to identify a potential pollution source which is not a fixed installation at sea, and for the vessel detection AIS
data is used in general for detected target identification. KSAT has agreements with institutional AIS network
operators providing operational access to AIS from entire Europe. An example of the integration of AIS data with the
satellite imagery data is given in Figure 2. The terrestrial AIS system has limited coverage, up to 60-80 km depending
on the location of the AIS receivers. This limitation of vessel traffic information to coastal near regions, has resulted
in a strongly increasing focus on satellite based AIS to meet user requirements for vessel traffic information in the
open seas or in areas with no terrestrial AIS coverage.

The first satellites with AIS receivers were launched in 2008. Today several missions are operating in space and
several new missions are planned to be launched over the next couple of years. KSAT started to include satellite AIS
data in our services in 2009 and the first results were demonstrated for the Gulf of Aden/Somalia area by utilising
satellite AIS data from ORBCOMM Inc. With the launch of the Norwegian AISSat-1 satellite in July 2010 and the
upcoming satellite AIS missions from ExactEarth, KSAT is adding satellite AIS as a important operational source for
vessel identification in our oil spill and vessel detection services.

2.3. Oil spill monitoring service

The KSAT oil spill detection service supports national pollution response chains and provides information on
potential oil pollutions detected in a satellite image. Time and reliability are key factors for the KSAT oil spill service.
Time is crucial for both catching the polluters, but most importantly for alerts to initiate damage-control and clean-up
operations. Information on potential oil spill must therefore be delivered to the customer as soon as possible after
satellite acquisition. The European users are today informed about possible oil spills within 30 minutes after data
acquisition.

In the case of a major accident, extensive oil spill or other emergencies the KSAT emergency service can be activated.
KSAT will then collect all available satellite data from both radar and optical satellites, ensuring a situational
awareness through frequent updates over the area.

2.3.1. European CleanSeaNet Service

During the two years of operations of the CSN service, the consortium has detected and reported on average nearly 10
possible spills per day. It is the responsibility of the individual national users to verify and give feedback on the
reported spills. The users decide from purely operational considerations whether a reported possible spill should be
verified e.g. by a surveillance aircraft. The project demonstrations and operational deliveries has documented that
satellite technology can provide information about possible oil spills at a reliability and quality acceptable for the
users, and that this technology can contribute to a more cost-effective utilization of the traditional surveillance
resources such as aircraft. The costs of the satellite service of < 0,1 Euro/km2 are cheaper than traditional
methodologies. Satellite oil spill detection has been integrated into the user’s operational pollution monitoring
systems even though not all performance parameters have been quantitatively documented. Northern Europe was the
first region to utilize this technology, which has been extended to cover all Europe, and we also see some very
interesting global user perspectives.

2.3.2. Service Examples

During the years of development, demonstrations and operations of this service thousands of SAR images have been
analysed to detect and report possible oil spills at sea. Figure 2 shows one example off the coast of Northern Norway
where a possible spill was detected and reported to the Norwegian authorities. The identity of the potential polluter
was derived from the AIS data. A surveillance aircraft passing over the area 8-9 hours later confirmed that this was a
real incident. No other vessels could be identified to having passed through the area, and therefore the vessel
identified from AIS was the likely source. The other example (Figure 3) shows a confirmed incident in the English
Channel. A high probability oil spill was identified in the satellite image (lower right). The spill and the source was
identified and photographed from the surveillance aircraft directed to the area (large left photo). The inlet at the top
shows one of the newspaper headlines associated with this spill. This spill could be observed in satellite images for
several consecutive days.
Figure 2: Identified possible spill and source, overlaid Figure 3: Large spill in the English Channel with the
by AIS and wind information. likely source identified from satellite image and
confirmed by aircraft.

2.3.3. Deepwater Horizon accident in Gulf of Mexico

The KSAT Emergency response service was activated and used during the first month of the Deepwater Horizon
accident in Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. Such situations are characterized by a huge need for information – and short
deadlines. One single satellite system will not meet all requirements, so a combination of all applicable satellites is the
optimal solution. KSAT established a dedicated multimission emergency service chain for the area around the oil
rig, and data from both radar and optical missions were ordered from the satellite owners. As data from the satellites
were analysed the information was delivered to the client through the dedicated web interface. Rapid set-up of a
service where all data are provided through one access point have shown to be very useful for the user in such a
situation where there are no time to struggle with various data formats, projections and interfaces. KSAT is now
working to include more satellites in the service and the lessons learnt from the Gulf of Mexico case will be used for
further development of the KSAT emergency response service. Examples from four of the analysed satellite images
are given in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Multimission satellite images provided in response to the Deepwater Horizon accident. ENVISAT©ESA
(2010), RADARSAT-2©MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (2010), TerraSAR-X©2010 German Aerospace
Centre (DLR)/InfoTerra GmbH, QuickBird©Digital Globe (2010).
2.4. Vessel detection service

The objective of a satellite based vessel detection service is to use the satellite images for detection, identification and
tracking of vessels. AIS data in combination with vessels detected in the satellite data have proven to be a powerful
tool in order to detect and identify the possible source of an oil spill, an example is given in Section 2.3.2. Vessel
detection has also been shown to be useful for other applications: The European Commission Joint Research Centre
(JRC) has demonstrated in close cooperation with Fisheries Monitoring Centres in the EU the benefits of using
satellite images to support fisheries surveillance (Kourti et al., 2005). The Norwegian Defence and Coast Guard uses
the service regularly both for strategic and tactical planning and operations. The increasing focus on the maritime
activities in the Northern regions causes new requirements related to vessel, or other surface target, detection,
identification and tracking. For fisheries monitoring it is required to maintain the updated recognized picture of the
presence of fishing vessels at the various fishing communities in the Barents Sea. For offshore oil and gas it is
required to maintain the updated recognised picture of the ship traffic close to offshore installation for safety and
navigation purposes.

The capabilities of vessel detection from SAR satellites depend on several features. If a vessel can be detected or not,
depends on the characteristics of the vessel including size, material and travelling direction related to the SAR; the
spatial resolution, polarisation and incidence angle of the SAR; and not least the sea-state conditions (wind speed and
wave height). Projects such as MARISS and LIMES have demonstrated the capabilities and limitations of the current
vessel detection service. For certain policy areas repetition frequency and the capability to detect the smaller and
faster boats are critical, and these requirements are difficult to meet with today’s’ satellite technology.

The high piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden and Somali basin over the last couple of years have lead to a demand for
improved maritime recognised picture for the area. Both vessel owners and naval forces have expressed interest in the
information that can be provided from satellite based vessel detection and AIS reception to support their activities and
reduce the risk of operating in the area. The combination of a vast, remote area of operation, the need for rapid
response and a relatively modestly-sized force makes the operational tasks very challenging for organisations like the
EU NAVFOR. KSAT has been involved in demonstrations like COMPASS and PIRASAT were vessel detection
from satellite data, like RADARSAT-2 and ENVISAT, have been combined with satellite AIS data and been made
available to the end-user in less than 1 hour after the satellite has passed over the area (Indregard et al., 2009).

By utilising onboard recording with subsequent download at a KSAT ground station, and satellite data-relay
capabilities, it has been possible to deliver information in near real-time despite there being no appropriate ground
stations for direct downlink of the date in the area. Figure 5 shows an example on vessel detection and identification
by satellite AIS from the gulf of Aden, and reporting a number of unknown/unidentified targets.

Figure 5: Vessel detection and identification by combining SAR and satellite AIS. Several unknown targets are
reported (red circles). RADARSAT-2© MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (2009).
 3. CONCLUSIONS

The capabilities to use satellite SAR data for oil spill and vessel detection have been documented during the last ten
years, and the operational capabilities have been established. KSAT is one of the leading European providers of
satellite technology based services for oil spill and vessel detection to operational users. SAR data from the European
Envisat and the Canadian RADARSAT satellites are currently the main data sources for the operational services. New
SAR missions like Cosmo-Skymed, TerraSAR and optical missions like Kompsat-2, QuickBird, WordlView 1 and 2
are being introduced into the operational services.

The use of satellite technology is now undergoing a fast development from a R&D, project and technology driven
area into more commercial and operational contractually founded service deliveries to operational users. One of the
most important contributions to this was the establishment of the EMSA CSN service in 2007. The capabilities now
available for EMSA are the results of years investment in service development e.g. within national development
programs such as the Norwegian SatOcean program and international R&D programs under the responsibility of ESA
and EC. These developments have included technical improvements as well as strengthening the user involvement
through service trials and demonstrations. Use of satellite technology for oil spill detection is now fully operational.

The recent accident in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated the usefulness of satellite imagery, and this accident was the
first where an emergency type service aimed at utilizing all relevant satellite missions was set-up. Both the politicians
and the public were strongly focused on the extent of the drift and the environmental and economical consequences,
and the satellite based service was a useful source for monitoring the drift of the spill. The accident also showed that
the offshore operator was not prepared for invoking and utilizing a satellite emergency monitoring service, simply
because there was no satellite monitoring service established in the area. This is very different e.g. from the situation
in Norway where all the offshore operators subscribe through NOFO (Norwegian Clean Seas Association for
Operating Companies) for a regular satellite monitoring service. The complete service chain and all operational
procedures are in place and is used on a daily basis. In case of an accident this service could be upgraded almost
immediately towards an emergency service just by increasing the number of satellite missions.

Detection, identification and tracking of vessels for a broad range of policies represent the next important service
developing towards a regular operational level. The initial capabilities have been documented, but the user
involvements in trials and demonstrations under national and European project driven activities have documented that
this service still need to be improved in order to meet important user requirements. Improved vessel detection and
discrimination from other surface targets need to be established, as well as the capabilities to detect smaller boats that
often could be associated with safety and security treats.

REFERENCES

Indregard M, Bauna T, Soleng N, Jefferies B, O'Neill K, Harms J, 2009. “Compass” a joint effort to meet the need for
maritime situational awareness, Paper presented at NATO-NURC conference.¨

Kourti N., Shepherd I., Greidanus H., Alvarez M., Areseu E., Bauna T., Chesworth J., Lemoine G., Schwartz G., 2005.
Integrating remote sensing in fisheries control. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 12, pp. 295-307.

Pedersen J.P, Bauna T, Seljelv L.G, Landmark F, Andersen, J.H, 1998. Earth Observation – a Cost-effective
Improvement for Oil Spill Monitoring, , Proceedings of the 27. ISPRS conference, Tromsø, Norway.

Pedersen J.P., Steinbakk L, Indregard M, 2005. Satellite based oil spill and ship detection service from national
towards pan-European multi-user services. Paper presented at the 31st International Symposium on Remote Sensing
of Environment (ISRSE) 20 - 24 Juni 2005 St Petersburg.

Steinbakk L, Pedersen J.P, Indregard M, 2004. ESA/EOMD of Envisat Marine Surveillance Services-
- SAR based oil and ship detection services. ERS/Envisat Symposium, Salzburg, Austria, September 2004.

View publication stats