An experimental study on the feasibility of monitoring petroleum-polluted waters with remote sensing technology

An experimental study was carried out in order to prove the feasibility of monitoring petroluem-polluted waters with remote sensing technology. The field data was collected in the rivers threatened by petroleum pollution. The measured items mainly included (1) the absorption coefficients of yellow substance, de-pigmented particles and phytoplankton pigments; (2) the backscattering coefficients data of water; (3) water quality parameters; (4) in-situ fine water spectral data. First, absorption spectral features and backscattering coefficients of petroleum-polluted water were analyzed. Secondly, the field spectral data were processed as corresponding bands of ENVISAT/MERIS using the spectral respond function of ENVISAT/MERIS in order to probe into the contribution of the various constituent concentrations in waters on the leaving-water radiation and remote sensing reflectance. The results showed that (1) with the increase of the petroleum pollution concentration, the absorption coefficients of petroleum-polluted water are also increased; (2) the spectra slope of exponential function of petroleum-polluted water is larger than that of petroleum-unpolluted water; (3) Emulsificated oil and decomposed oil in water can be absorbed by suspended particles and influence the scattering properties of the particles. Moreover it will change the spectral model of the inorganic particles backscattering coefficient with petroleum-polluted water; (4) the correlation between petroleum pollution concentration and remote sensing reflectance based on ENVISAT/MERIS is negative. These features of inherent optical parameters and apparent optical parameters obtained from the experiment provide the feasibility for monitoring petroleum-polluted waters with remote sensing technology.