Laser fluorosensor overflights of the Santa Barbara oil seeps

The Emergencies Science Division of Environment Canada recently participated in a series of remote sensing flights over the naturally occurring oil seeps off Santa Barbara, California. During these flights the laser environmental airborne fluorosensor was operated to test its ability to detect oil in an actual marine environment. This joint project was sponsored by the United States Minerals Management Service and the Emergencies Science Division of Environment Canada. The Santa Barbara area of the California coastline contains numerous gas and petroleum deposits, which are slowly released from faults under the water and rise to the surface in the form of gas, oil and tar. In and around several of these seeps are kelp beds that release biogenic material, which can be mistaken for petroleum oil by certain remote sensors and human observers. This biogenic oil does not fluoresce when irradiated with ultraviolet light since it contains none of the aromatic compounds necessary to absorb the ultraviolet light and return fluorescence. The laser environmental airborne fluorosensor is, therefore, able to discriminate between this non-fluorescing oil and petroleum oils, which fluoresce with characteristic spectral signatures and intensities. High-resolution colour reconnaissance camera images and down-looking video images were collected concurrently with the fluorescence data for documentation purposes. Fluorescence data were collected at 100 Hz and correlated in real-time against reference spectra characteristic of light refined, crude and heavy oils. Maps of oil detection locations were produced in flight and printed in the aircraft. This paper will present details of the overflights and post-flight analysis of the fluorescence data using the Pearson correlation coefficient.