Satellite surveillance used to spot ship pollution
5 July 2004
The UK-based Maritime & Coastguard Agency recently unveiled the first results of an international tripartite surveillance programme using satellites currently underway in the North Sea.
The trial involves several member states of the European Union including Germany, Netherlands and the UK.
The aim of the project is to exploit the use of new satellite technology to identify marine pollution originating from shipping. Another key aim is to provide a deterrent to ship owners and operators.
Toby Stone, Head of Counter Pollution and Response said, "Satellite trials linked to oil spill detection are not new. However, this latest demonstration project is very much on an operational footing. The use of satellites for such services is a maturing piece of technology. Images are imported into GIS to further assist ourselves and our European partners."
The Southern North Sea is just one of many targeted areas in the UK Pollution Control Zone. In conjunction with the earth observation data, fixed wing remote sensing aerial surveillance aircraft are on call in the areas to validate the satellite passes.
This information can then be compared with other surveillance tools for example the radar information from the Channel Navigation Information Service (CNIS) based at Dover Coastguard Station and the Automatic Identification Systems currently being installed on ships and monitored by National Authorities.
The European Space Agency Envisat satellite and the Canadian Radarsat satellite are Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites in a sun synchronous orbit. Several times a week images are taken by the satellites and then acquired and processed by the Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) ground station based in Tromso, Norway.
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