Role of Satellite Observation and Geospatial Technologies for the Maintenance and Mitigation of Risks to Critical Energy Infrastructure of the Caspian Sea

摘要

The main goal of this research was to study oil pollution, determine oil spill frequencies and approximate oil leak sources around the Oil Rocks Settlement, the Chilov and Pirallahi Islands in the Caspian Sea using 136 time-series ENVISAT radar images acquired during 2006-2010. Oil slicks were mainly detected from radar images acquired under the wind speed range of 2.5 - 12.4 m/s. The following oil spill frequencies were observed around the Oil Rocks Settlement, the Chilov and Pirallahi Islands: 2-10 (3471.04 sq. km.), 11-20 (971.66 sq. km.), 21-50 (692.44 sq. km.), 51-128 (191.38 sq. km.). The most critical oil leak sources with the frequency range of 41-128 were observed at the Oil Rocks Settlement. The exponential regression analysis between wind speeds and oil slick areas detected from 136 multi-temporal ENVISAT images revealed the regression coefficient equal to 63%. The regression model showed that larger oil spill areas were observed with decreasing wind speeds.