Observation of Oil Spills through Landsat Thermal Infrared Imagery: A Case of Deepwater Horizon

Abstract

In the accidental oil spills of Deepwater Horizon at the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, cold plume of initial oil cover with the apparent surface temperature lower than the surrounding sea surface temperature by 0.6 K, was detected; and away from the initial leakage location, the apparent temperature of oil film was found higher than the surrounding sea surface water temperature with a maximum difference of 3.2 K. Both the cold and hot oil patches had relatively thicker film, but the cold patches were due to the initial low temperature during the crude oil upwelling from deep water while the hot ones were caused by sun heating. This suggests that thermal infrared imagery has the potential in locating the leakage place of crude oil spill upwelling especially from deep water and identifying thick oil aggregations.