Oil Spills Detection and Monitoring Using Airborn Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing in Dalian Xingang Oil Pipeline Explosion

In the accident of Dalian Xingang oil pipeline explosion, on July 16th 2010, the 3.0-5.0μm bands thermal infrared sensor, which was equipped in the rescue helicopters from the Ministry of Transportation, was successfully applied to oil spills monitoring and detection in accident waters. By abstracting oil/water contrast from the information collected within specific distances far from the sensor position, this device was able to conduct routine monitoring of oil slicks on water surface. Consequently, it can obviously distinguish oil from other similar phenomenon and analyze the relative thickness mode of the slicks. After completing everyday air monitoring tasks, the oil distribution pictures of incident sea area would be drawn combining with other remote sensing data and GIS for the further remediation.