Large oil spill surveillance with the use of MODIS and AVHRR images

Oil spills in the ocean are one of the major environmental concerns. Some sensors, such as MODIS, and AVHRR, have been used to detect oil spills which often appear differently from the surrounding waters on the images. However, any single sensor can not offer the required temporal acquisition rate of the same area, to guarantee the possibility to monitor the large oil spill dynamically. In this study, we retrieve oil spill information from the Gulf of Mexico using the AVHRR and MODIS images in 2010. Not only the area and location of the oil spill, the drifting direction could also be offered. In the future, combing MODIS and AVHRR images could be useful for oil spill surveillance, reducing hazards, and supporting decision-making in response to oil spills.