The Finnish Environment Centre is endeavouring to prevent oil spills in the Baltic Sea by using state-of-the-art technology. A system based on satellite observation will increase reliability, develop drift models for oil slicks and, if expectations are fulfilled, also reduce spills.

Oil transportation in the Gulf of Finland has trebled since the mid-1990s to the present 60 million tonnes a year. The volume is expected to increase to one hundred million tonnes in the next few years.

The Finnish Environment Centre (SYKE) is heading a three-year project that is developing a system based on satellite observation of oil emissions. Also involved in the project are the Finnish Institute of Marine Research, Helsinki University of Technology as well as Centroid Oy and INPHO Technology Oy.

Floating where?

The satellite observation is based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) pictures. Oil floating on the water's surface evens out the waves, and, because of this, the radiation from the radar is reflected back to the satellite from the sea with less intensity than in the normal situation where there is no oil.

"Because there are other phenomena in the water that even out the sea's surface, we need methods that will enable us to make the right interpretation. By using SAR pictures we can discover real oil-slicks very reliably," says Timo Pyhälahti, a specialist planner at the Finnish Environment Centre.

Satellite pictures and flotation models can be used to predict where and how quickly floating oil is drifting on the open sea. By using an Internet portal that is under construction real-time information about oil sightings will be transmitted to other parties needing the information.

Risk of being caught increases

"A unique point in our system is the combination of pictures with flow and reliability models. No equivalent system is in use elsewhere," Pyhälahti says.

Daily observation by means of satellites will make it possible to monitor the number of spills with more precision than before. This is expected to reduce the number of intentional spillages because the risk of being caught will be greater. The system will also enable the right kind of help and oil-recovery equipment to be brought to the right place as quickly as possible.

There are plenty of challenges and work ahead. Pyhälahti says that the number of spills in the Baltic is not known exactly. Estimates are put at 10,000 a year, only a fraction of which are observed by traditional methods.

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In the Prestige accident that occurred in 2002 600 kilometres of the Spanish coast were polluted. Crude oil was recovered in difficult conditions on the open sea. The Finnish company Lamor Corporation supplied seven kilometres of oil booms and 30 kilometres of recovery systems. Photo: Lamor Corporation


Satellite observation is based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) pictures. Photo: ESA