Oil Spills: A near real-time detection
- 13 April 2018
- Category: Government, News
Following, the new EU directive 2005/35/EC that introduces penalties for infringements on ship-source pollution, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has developped technical solutions for discharges tracing by satellite monitoring and tracking.
The challenge: a near real-time detection of marine pollution.
Our mission in CleanSeaNet, the oil spill monitoring and vessel detection service, set up and operated by the EMSA
- Processing & analyzing SAR images
- Detect oil spills
- Identify polluters from combining data types
- Drift model to anticipate costal damage
- Real time reports
Benefits for the end users
- Reliable, fast and high quality information to help detect marine pollutions and prosecute polluters
- Prompt follow-up actions
- Decrease in the number of detected oil spills
- Improvement in the marine environment
Satellite evidence in UK Court
February 25, 2012:
9am – Off the coast of Cornwall, UK. EMSA detected possible spill using Envisat.February 25, 2012:
10am – Combining our satellite images with AIS, the vessel was identified.
11am – UK’s Maritime and Coast Guard contacted the vessel:
- First, he denied the slick.
- Then argued it was outside the UK’s 12 nautical mile limit, where certain discharges are permitted.
February 26, 2012:
Satellite evidence proved the slick was inside territorial waters, and so the discharge was illegal.
October 4, 2013:
At the trial, the vessel’s owner was found guilty. According to the Maritime and Coast Guard’s enforcement unit, the guilty verdict would not have happened without CLS’ satellite evidence.
