The remote sensing inversion theory of offshore oil slick thickness based on a two-beam interference model

Abstract

Offshore oil slicks are significant for both the monitoring of marine spill accidents and the detection of marine oil resources. The use of remote sensing technology to detect the thickness of oil slicks is a major area of research. The reflected light from oil slicks changes with the thickness of the oil. This is the theoretical basis of research on optical remote sensing of offshore oil slicks. A two-beam interference model that considers the offshore oil slick as a flat plate has been developed in this study. A quantitative remote sensing model which describes a series of processes that use oil slick thickness and reflectance as variables is established. The use of the Fresnel equation to analyze parameters in the model indicated that the key property of the quantitative relationship between the oil slick thickness and reflectance was ultimately the disappearance or extinction of the oil slick. This model has been tested and verified by data from offshore oil slick spectral response experiments. Results showed that the oil slick thickness remote sensing model can be theoretically analyzed and is efficient. The research indicated that the major cause of variations in the spectral response as a function of oil slick thickness was the different light-scattering characteristics. These characteristics can be used in remote sensing applications to identify the different types of offshore oil slicks. The theoretical interpretation of each parameter in this model led to the development of a look-up table of the model parameters which will improve the efficiency of future offshore oil slick remote sensing.two-beam interference, oil slick thickness, remote sensing, reflectance Citation:Lu Y C, Tian Q J, Li X. The remote sensing inversion theory of offshore oil slick thickness based on a two-beam interference model.

Using remote sensing to detect the polarized sunglint reflected from oil slicks beyond the critical angle

“…An oil slick atop the calm sea surface can be considered to be a planar surface [Lu et al, 2011[Lu et al, , 2012Ren et al, 2016]. The three layers therein (the air, oil slick, and seawater) possess different refractive indices.…”

“…[], and Lu et al . []), including optical sensors [ Chust and Sagarminaga , ; Giammona et al ., ; Hu et al ., ; Lu et al ., ; Sugioka et al ., ; Sun and Hu , ; Sun et al ., ], synthetic aperture radar (SAR) [ Brekke and Solberg , ; Garcia‐Pineda et al ., ; Hodgins et al ., ; Keramitsoglou et al ., ; Zheng et al ., ], thermal sensors [ Asanuma et al ., ; Cai et al ., ; Cross , ; Innman et al ., ; Leifer et al ., ; Lu et al ., ; Salisbury et al ., ; Tseng and Chiu , ], and laser fluorescence [ Brown et al ., ; Brown and Fingas , ]. These different technologies possess unique characteristics, theoretical bases, related data processing techniques, and quantitative remote sensing models.…”

“…Oil slicks on the ocean surface can be detected by employing multiple different types of remote sensing approaches (e.g., see the reviews by Brekke and Solberg [2005], Leifer et al [2012], and Lu et al [2013a]), including optical sensors [Chust and Sagarminaga, 2007;Giammona et al, 1995;Hu et al, 2003Hu et al, , 2009Lu et al, 2011Lu et al, , 2012Lu et al, , 2013aLu et al, , 2013bSugioka et al, 1999;Sun et al, 2015, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) [Brekke and Solberg, 2005;Garcia-Pineda et al, 2013;Hodgins et al, 1996;Keramitsoglou et al, 2006;Zheng et al, 2001], thermal sensors [Asanuma et al, 1986;Cai et al, 2007;Cross, 1992;Innman et al, 2010;Leifer et al, 2012;Lu et al, 2016b;Salisbury et al, 1993;Tseng and Chiu, 1994], and laser fluorescence [Brown et al, 1996;Brown and Fingas, 2003]. These different technologies possess unique characteristics, theoretical bases, related data processing techniques, and quantitative remote sensing models.…”

“…Among these various approaches, passive optical remote sensing has been applied to the detection of oil slicks for several decades, and significant progress has been made using this technique in recent years. Oil slicks affect the absorption, transmission, scattering, and reflection of sunlight at the ocean surface, which collectively lead to differences in the surface-leaving radiance between seawater and oil slicks [Lu et al, 2011[Lu et al, , 2012[Lu et al, , 2013bWettle et al, 2009].…”

Classification of the Different Thickness of the Oil Film Based on Wavelet Transform Spectrum Information

“…Results can be obtained by regarding the uniformly distributed oil slick film as one parallel plate, analyzing its radiation transfer process within the range of visible light, and then discussing the two-beam interference of the oil film's reflected light. This is followed by the establishment of a quantitative inversion model for the remote sensing of the oil film thickness, by using the oil film thickness and its spectral reflectance as the variables (Lu ,Tian and Li, 2011). At this point, the biological optical model for the water-surface thin oil film thickness can be established, and an inversion of oil film's thickness information through the simplified algorithm of a single band and a dual band can be performed, in order to calculate the quantitative inversion of the thicknesses of the of oil film and the crude oil samples.…”