Determining spectral groups to distinguish oil emulsions from Sargassum over the Gulf of Mexico using an airborne imaging spectrometer

[Display omitted] •Spilled oils and floating algae have independent and distinct spectral reflectance.•The spectral features are determined by the diagnostic absorption of the groups of pigments and -C-H and -O-H bonds.•Marine oil spills and Sargassum can be identified using an imaging spectrometer. During the weathering of marine-spilled oils, various types of oil pollution are formed that can harm marine and coastal environments. Thus, the remote detection, classification and quantification of spilled oils is important in marine environmental monitoring. Although multispectral images can be used to observe various spilled oils, due to confusion between the multispectral backscattered signals, distinguishing spilled oils from floating algae in the same image is challenging. The spectral features of carbon-hydrogen (-C-H) and oxygen-hydrogen (-O-H) groups, and pigments, are diagnostic absorption features and are different from the backscattering signal, they have not been used to improve detection independently. In this study, all the spectral features of the groups were clearly interpreted using reflectance spectra collected from an airborne visible infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS). A reflectance peak-trough detection method to characterize the different spectral groups was used to determine the spectral features of Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil emulsions and floating Sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The results show that the spilled oils and floating Sargassum can be clearly identified, and the various spilled oils (i.e., different oil emulsions and oil slicks) could also be determined from the differences in the spectral features of the above groups. Finally, we discuss the spectral requirements for the identification of these groups and we conclude that optical remote sensing, including imaging spectrometers, will play an increasingly important role in assessing marine oil spills.