Oil Spill Index (OSI) to Sentinel-2 satellite data: QU in International Contribution

Abstract

An Oil Spill Index (OSI = (B3+B4)/B2) was developed and applied to Sentinel-2 optical satellite data of the European Space Agency (ESA) to map marine oil spills using spectral absorption characters of spectral bands of the Sentinel-2. The potential application of OSI and derived indices [i. (5+6)/7, (3+4)/2, (11+12)/8 and ii. 3/2, (3+4)/2, (6+7)/5] were demonstrated to the oil spills that occurred off Mauritius, Indian Ocean, on August 06, 2020, and Norilsk region, Russia on May 29, 2020, and the results were published in the peer-reviewed research journals. Recently (August 19, 2021), our methodology was recognized by the Sentinel-Hub (a repository of custom scripts) https://custom-scripts.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel-2/oil-spill-index/ for OSI calculation. We validated the remote sensing results with the drone images taken during the incident. Our OSI index is the first to be applied to Sentinel-2 optical data to map oil spills. We proved the potential of indices and the capability of Sentinel sensors to detect, map, monitor, and assess the oil spill, which can be used for emergency preparedness of oil spills.