Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
2. Environmental Earth Observation Group, GPO Box 1666, CSIRO Land and
Water, ACT, 2601 Australia Tel +61 2 6246 5719
Abstract
Oil and gas reservoirs below the sea bed can experience seepage through the
seafloor, resulting in oil slicks on the sea surface. Remote sensing has the
potential to cost-effectively scan extensive and/or remote regions for such
surface slicks, thereby identifying areas in producing and frontier basins that are
prospective for hydrocarbons.
Accordingly, we are developing a two-pronged, remote sensing-based approach
for seepage slick studies in the Australian Marine Jurisdiction (AMJ):
1) Detection – building a semi-automated processing and classification
system in order to scan large numbers of SAR scenes for potential
natural slick targets. This includes time series analysis.
2) Identification – investigating the potential of optical remote sensing as
a diagnostic tool for further, targeted study.
Here, we present the current status and capabilities of our semi-automated
system for SAR analysis as well as our findings and progress in identifying
natural oil slicks using optical data. Specifically, we demonstrate the application
of the two-pronged approach on a 1,350,000 km2 area in offshore Southwestern
Australia. The results include a comprehensive GIS-ready output of potential
sea surface slicks, classified according to likelihood of being a mineral oil slick,
as identified in 238 SAR scenes covering the area. We estimate that the semi-
automated SAR analysis system reduces image processing time by one order
of magnitude.
In order to investigate the potential for further targeted study using optical
remote sensing, we simulated the sensitivity of four commercially available
sensors (Quickbird, ALOS, Landsat, and HyMap) to detecting and identifying
four oil types known to occur in this area of study (the Perth Basin). This
feasibility study showed that two of the oil types were readily detectable by the
sensors (as a function of oil layer thickness) whereas two of the oil types were
not detectable.
We conclude with a summary of future work and planned developments.
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I Introduction
Oil and gas naturally seeps through the seafloor from reservoirs below the sea
bed which can result in oil slicks on the sea surface. Remote sensing is
applicable to detecting and mapping natural seepage slicks due to the cost-
effective ability to scan extensive and/or remote regions. However, the bulk of
remote sensing of marine hydrocarbon slicks to date has focused on detecting
and mapping relatively thick oil pollution and spills, often with a known extent,
date, and/or location (Malthus and Karpouzli, 2007). Utilizing remote sensing for
petroleum exploration purposes poses significant additional challenges; natural,
seepage-derived oil slicks are typically thinner on the sea surface, and their
timing, extent, location and chemical properties are often not known.
Remote sensing studies of oil slicks have been carried out using Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) (De Beukelaer et al, 2003; Brekke and Solberg, 2005).
Under suitable environmental conditions, a sea surface slick has a dampening
effect on the capillary waves, thereby reducing the amplitude of the wave-
dependant backscatter signal, which in turn is visible as a dark area (negative
contrast) in SAR imagery.
SAR is highly effective in screening for seepage slicks as it covers large
geographic areas and can image through clouds and at night-time. However,
the large volume of data required to screen the Australian Marine Jurisdiction
(AMJ), for natural slicks prohibits manual, operator-based analysis of the
imagery, particularly where multi-temporal data sets are involved. Furthermore,
new data are continuously being acquired. Hence, we have developed a bulk
processing, semi-automated, SAR data classification system for broad scale
initial detection of slicks. The Semi-Automated Marine Slicks SAR Analysis
(SAMSSARA) system is described in Section II.
One limitation of SAR for detecting hydrocarbon slicks is that it contains no
diagnostic spectral information. Hence, other phenomena that cause
dampening of capillary waves, such as natural film, bathymetric features,
weather and even coral spawn, can lead to a range of false positive
interpretations of natural oil slicks (Jones et al, 2006; Thankappan et al, 2007).
Although prohibitively costly for scanning large offshore areas, high spatial
resolution optical remote sensing offers potential for further identifying and
characterizing naturally occurring hydrocarbon slicks. Potential applications
range from locally targeted airborne hyperspectral acquisitions to multispectral
spaceborne sensors with global coverage. However, the feasibility of these
types of optical data applications remains to be proven. We are currently
investigating the sensitivity of high spatial resolution, commercially available
sensors to oil types known to occur in the AMJ. By determining the optical
properties of these oils and assessing the environmental signal to noise
characteristics of the relevant sensors, we are able to: 1) constrain the
feasibility of using a given sensor for further, targeted identification of a potential
oil slick target and 2) prescribe a method for determining a-priori the potential
and limitations of a given sensor and/or oil type for this type of application. This
work is presented in Section III.
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II Broad scale detection system
Methodology
SAR data, such as those obtained from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s)
ERS-1 and ERS-2 sensors, have the necessary spatial and temporal coverage
to monitor the AMJ for potential seep-derived slicks. Screening such data
manually incurs a prohibitive cost due to the large size of such data sets. Our
solution, SAMSSARA, which was developed using Definiens software,
combines object-oriented data analysis and classification tools with batch-
processing and thorough reporting schematics in order to provide a first
screening of these large SAR data sets.
The object-oriented classification ruleset incorporates both contrast and shape
criteria, as well as performing object merger based on proximity and orientation.
To begin with, the classification is based on local contrast within subsets of a
given SAR scene, in order to circumvent the gradients (scene-wide, gradual
change in average contrast) typically found in this type of imagery. Several
approaches to removing this gradient from the imagery were examined, but did
not yield satisfactory results. Hence each SAR scene is divided into subsets, to
allow contrast statistics to be calculated locally. An identified object with
contiguous, lower values (i.e. negative contrast as defined by local statistics) is
considered a potential slick candidate object.
Further to this, the shape of each potential object is examined using a set of
criteria that include length versus width and perimeter versus area. A natural
slick is typically an elongated, thin form with potentially one or more twists (due
to surface currents). In addition, identified objects are merged using a set of
criteria that include the object’s orientation in relation to neighboring objects and
the extent and orientation of shared perimeters. Merged objects are then re-
classified based on the contrast and shape rules described above, and the
process repeated iteratively until every subset in the scene has been classified.
The classification scheme currently uses three categories of potential slicks
targets: category 1 - dark feature; category 2 - slick shaped, and; category 3 –
very slick shaped, with the latter being the highest probability slick target
classification based on the defined criteria. SAMSSARA retains the number of
classified targets in each category for each scene and outputs these project
statistics in both ‘.csv’ and HTML format. Furthermore, for each scene, the geo-
referenced location and classification category of each identified slick target is
reported in separate, scene-specific ‘.csv’ and HTML files. In addition, the
hyperlinked html reports contain thumbnail imagery of each identified target.
Finally, SAMSSARA outputs geo-referenced maps (shapefiles) of all classified
potential targets.
Image data
In the example reported here, we have analysed 238 ERS-1/2 scenes over the
offshore Southwest margin of Australia, which includes the Perth Basin (Figure
1a). The data were sourced from the Geoscience Australia archive, and were
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pre-processed to geo-referenced scenes and re-scaled to 8-bit resolution using
in-house routines. The scenes were then classified by the SAMSARRA software
in batch mode, generating spreadsheet reports, html reports, and shapefile
outputs of all classified objects.
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b c
a
Category 3 (very slick shaped)
Category 2 (slick shaped)
Category 1 (dark feature)
Well
Figure 1 a) The location of the 238 SAR scenes used to scan the Southwest margin for sea
surface slicks b) the results from the automated 238 SAR scene classification showing identified
features color-coded as red, green and blue for category 3, category 2 and category 1 features
respectively, together with six (6) SAR scenes shown for illustrative purposes. The ellipse
indicates an area most likely featuring sampling bias, as further described in the text c) slick
feature classification results for a selected area combined with well locations and sedimentary
basin outlines (white polygons). The pastel colored raster is Bouguer gravity processed to
maximise imaging of depocentres (dark blue).
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direct effect on optical properties of oils. Thus, the chemistry of an oil type can
influence both the wavelength and thickness-dependent absorptive properties.
However, the literature detailing investigations of this is sparse (Otremba and
Piskozub, 2001).
In Wettle et al (2009) we examined the wavelength and thickness-dependent
absorptive properties, through laboratory experiments, of two naturally occurring
Australian oils of differing chemistry. We then applied the results of these
measurements in a sensitivity analysis, using image-derived performance
limitations of two representative optical imaging sensors, to test how the
contrasting characteristics of the oils would affect their ability to be detected
with optical remote sensing.
Based on this work, the optical properties of four oils from the Perth Basin (part
of the area covered by 238 SAR scenes) were used in conjunction with the
sensitivity response of four sensors to determine the feasibility of applying
optical remote sensing data to identify naturally occurring oil slicks in this area.
The four oils originating form the Perth Basin area were sourced from the
Geoscience Australia archive and sent to the ANU Laser Physics Centre for
spectrophotometric analysis. The four oil types are listed in Table 1. The four
sensors investigated are the spaceborne and multispectral Quickbird, ALOS,
and Landsat sensors, as well as the airborne and hyperspectral HyMap sensor.
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the Quickbird blue channel (wavelength of approximately 480nm) a 20 µm thick
#190 oil layer produces a change in reflectance that corresponds to
approximately four (4) NE∆Re levels from that of an oil free water surface. For
the Quickbird red channel (wavelength of approximately 650nm), a 20 µm thick
layer of the same oil produces a change in signal of less than one signal
quanta, or NE∆Re. The #190 oil is therefore theoretically not detectable
(differentiable from and oil-free water surface) in the Quickbird red channel at a
thickness of 20µm or less.
In contrast, Figure 2b reveals that the #414 oil is not detectable by the Quickbird
sensor in any spectral channel, up to a surface layer thickness of up to 200 µm.
The corresponding graphs for the other two oil types and three sensors have
been omitted from this text for reasons of space. We have instead summarised
some of the findings in Table 2.
12.00
10.00
NE∆RE
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
450 550 650 750 850
wavelength (nm)
Thickness (microns)
10 20 30 40 50
60 70 80 90 100
110 120 130 140 150
160 170 180 190 200
Figure. 2 Thickness-dependent detectability of the # 190 oil, as simulated for the Quickbird
sensor. The four spectral channels of the Quickbird sensor are denoted by the symbols along
each NE∆Re spectrum. The legend denotes oil layers thickness in microns.
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absorption vs oil thickness, oil #414
Quickbird signal quanta
14.00
12.00
10.00
NE∆RE
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
450 550 650 750 850
wavelength (nm)
Figure. 3 Thickness-dependent detectability of the #414 oil, as simulated for the Quickbird
sensor. Oil layer thickness is defined by the legend in Figure 2.
Table 2. The oil layer thickness (µm) at which a given number of spectral bands of a
sensor can detect the oil based on its absorptive properties. X indicates that it is not
detectable up to a thickness of 200 µm.
Number of bands 1 2 3 1 5 10 1 2 3 1 2 3
Oil # 404 x x x x x x x x x x x x
Oil # 414 x x x 130 180 x x x x x x x
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It is important to note that this work studies the simulated detectability of an oil
layer based on it’s absorptive properties. The wavelength-dependent absorption
of the light signal is critical in attempting to identify a given water surface layer,
both in distinguishing it from false positives such as biological films (Jones et al,
2006) or surface current effects, as well for potentially identifying oil types.
At the same time, an oil layer may also be detectable by optical sensors using
specular glint reflection: an oil layer can both remove glint in sun-glinted waters
and enhance the sun glint effect. Therefore, oil layers denoted here as too thin
to be detectable through their absorptive properties may still be detectable with
optical sensors using sun glint artefacts. However, this signal contains no
spectral information, and can therefore not be used to identify the nature of the
sea surface slick.
IV Concluding remarks
A primary obstacle with utilising SAR data for slick detection is the large
volumes of imagery data that need to be assessed and analysed. We have
therefore developed and implemented a semi-automated classification and
reporting system (SAMSSARA) for handling large (100+) image data sets. This
has reduced the image processing time by an order of magnitude and
furthermore offers a range of outputs for final assessment. These outputs
include all classified objects in GIS-ready format, enabling contextual analysis
together with ancillary data such as geological information.
The use of optical remote sensing data for detecting and identifying thin,
naturally occurring mineral oil slicks is relatively under-studied. Consequently,
we have developed a method for assessing the feasibility of applying a given
sensor to detect a given type of oil, at typically occurring natural surface layer
thicknesses. Furthermore, the results from this method indicate the diagnostic
potential that a specific oil type may exhibit in optical remote sensing imagery.
We have applied the two-pronged approach to an area of the Southwestern
Australian margin. This has resulted in a map of potential sea surface slick
features, requiring further investigation using complementary data sets as well
as targeted, optical remote sensing. We have furthermore determined that two
of the oil types that occur in this basin are detectable – and therefore
distinguishable from false positives such as biological films and sea surface
currents – by commercially accessible optical remote sensing platforms.
Future development of SAMSSARA will focus on furthering the multi-temporal
analysis component, since a re-occurrence of a sea surface slick is a strong
indicator of a seepage origin. We anticipate that we will continue to gradually
add results to a database of oil type versus sensor sensitivity. This will provide a
reference for the applicability of a given optical remote sensing platform for
detecting a given type of marine oil slick, effectively directing future exploration
resource deployment.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Research School of Physical Sciences and
Engineering laboratories of the Australian National University (ANU), the
Environmental Earth Observation Group laboratories of CSIRO Land and
Water, and the consulting services of Definiens AG for their high quality of work
and dedicated helpfulness.
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