Satellite images for the Oil-In-Ice experiment in the Barents Sea in May 2009

In support of the Joint Industry Project Oil in Ice, satellite images were acquired to monitor the experiment site to determine if the technology used to successfully detect oil spills in open water is applicable to oil spills in ice-infested water. Images were planned and acquired based on the expedition plan and up-to-date information from the field.
Several satellite images were received for analysis as a part of the Oil in Ice project. The main objectives are: 1- to determine which images cover the activities and 2- what can be seen in these images with regards to ships, oil, and ship tracks through ice. The total number of images received was 26: 10 Envisat ASAR wide swath images, 6 Radarsat-1 images, 7 Radarsat-2 images and 3 Cosmo-Sky-Med images. Only 11 images covered the activity with respect to date and time of the events. Object identification in these images is dependent mainly on image resolution and radar speckle noise. Ships can be clearly seen in all images as strong backscattering targets. Although an expansive slick in less dense ice concentrations may be detectable, the small surface area covered by oil spills in the FEX09 field experiments cannot be seen with confidence in any of the images. The main reasons for this are: (1) the size of the oil spill was small (few tens of metres), and (2) the ice concentration was high (80%-90%) where the oil was located. Ship tracks through the ice can be seen for some days after the ship has passed, depending on the ice motion. Cosmo-SkyMed with high resolution (5m) show most details in the ice. Radarsat-2 (ScanSAR Wide) and Envisat show fewer details due to the lower resolution than Cosmo-Sky-Med. Dual polarization does not seem to have any advantage. In addition, the noise here is high. In order to detect oil in ice by SAR images the ice concentration can’t be as high as in this experiment. It is expected that ice concentration must be less than 50% for detection to be possible.