Radar satellite monitoring of Russian shelf

Radar monitoring of Northern Caspian
(monitoring of oil contamination)
Radar monitoring of Sakhalin shelf petroleum region
(monitoring of oil contamination, vessels position and ice coverage)

The area of Russian continental shelf is 6.2 million sq. km. Approximately 4 million sq. km has oil and gas production potential. Commercial offshore production of hydrocarbons poses a risk of upsetting the marine environment balance in the areas of production and transportation operations. Petroleum product leaks forming an oil slick on the water's surface are a key hazard (including, as a result of ship tank washing). Effective and timely monitoring of such slicks is critical for response, assessment of damage and identification of the guilty party.

Currently available are interactive maps of the Northern Caspian and Sakhalin shelf petroleum regions with regularly updated information on oil slicks obtained with satellite radar images.

Use right-hand side buttons and to zoom in and out. You can also use mouse wheel.
Use for navigating the map without zooming.
For detailed information on the slick press and click on the site you are interested in.

The projects are implemented by Non-profit Partnership "Transparent World" and ScanEx R&D Center in cooperation with:

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Geobyte LLC
GIS-Lab website

Additional information

Satellite radar images from Radarsat and Envisat are used to detect oil slicks on the water surface. Radio waves emitted by the satellites are reflected differently from the water surface with different wave structure. Since spilled oil changes that structure (in effect smoothing out the waves) it can be detected with the help of radar images based on reflected radio signals (as long as the sea is not stormy or dead calm when the difference in wave structure cannot be detected). Radar operation is usually not hindered by clouds as they are penetrable by radio waves.

The same property of radio waves makes it possible to detect sheet ice and, consequently, to monitor the ice situation. Radio waves, as is known, are also reflected off metal objects making ships and oil platforms well visible on radar images. In some cases even the class of ship can be identified. Ship spotting with the use of radar satellite makes it possible to independently monitor ship traffic and fight illegal fishing, as well as to identify the party responsible for offshore oil contamination.

Technical details are available from the website of Scanex RDC.