Research on Remote Sensing Quantitative Inversion of Oil Spills and Emulsions Using Fusion of Optical and Thermal Characteristics

Marine oil spill disasters significantly threaten the environment, economic development, and human health. Accurate quantification and inversion of oil spills and emulsions are essential for an effective emergency response. This study systematically investigated oil spill quantitative inversion from land-based to airborne and then to satellite-based, focusing on the optical and thermal response characteristics of nonemulsified crude oils (NEO) and fuel oils of varying thicknesses, as well as oil spill emulsions (OE) with different emulsification concentrations. A novel modular oil spill quantitative inversion model (OQIM) combining optical and thermal characteristics was developed, which comprehensively utilized the inversion advantages of optical and thermal infrared remote sensing in the thin and thick oil film ranges, respectively, enabling the simultaneous quantitative inversion of NEO and OE. The study demonstrates that the OQIM exhibited excellent quantitative inversion capabilities and stability under ideal land-based scenarios, with R²; values for NEO and OE exceeding 0.978 and 0.983, respectively. The OQIM effectively utilized the technical strengths of optical and thermal remote sensing, successfully mitigating the interference from sun glint, and inverting the thickness of NEO and fuel oil based on the UAV actual measurement data. By employing the oil–water brightness temperature difference polar coordinate thermal model, the absolute thickness of the oil-in-water emulsions was inverted with an average relative error below 12.7%. When applied to airborne and satellite remote sensing images of actual oil spill incidents, the OQIM model exhibited significant inversion potential and generalization capabilities in practical applications, offering crucial methodological support for emergency responses to marine oil spills.