The measurement of the thickness of oil on water
Conference
·
OSTI ID:478118
- Imperial Oil Resources Ltd., Alberta (Canada)
One of the major uses of remote sensing in oil-spill response is determining the location of oil slicks. This information provides basic data for making decisions in order to optimize the response. The area of the slicks can be readily determined using both visual and remote-sensing methods; however, this information is of limited use for decision making. The critical parameter is the volume of oil present on the water surface, and thus, the remote measurement of oil thickness is a critical additional information set required in order to improve oil-spill response decision making. There have been a number of methods proposed to measure oil-slick thickness from an airborne platform. Several of these concepts involve the dropping of a sensing system from an aircraft to the water. The sensor system measures the oil thickness and sends the data back by some type of telemetry system. While these point measurement systems have some capability of thickness measurement, this method does not provide adequate spatial coverage at a reasonable cost. Surface-based units using sorbent pads and other sampling methods and their role in remote-sensing systems will be described. The problems of relating point measurements to aerial measurements will be discussed. Two systems that have been proposed, for truly remote measurements, are the microwave radiometer and the acoustic-laser thickness sensor. This paper will describe the current state-of-the-art of remote-sensing of oil thickness. Methods of calibrating these sensors using a micrometer beam system and a sub-surface ultrasonic detection system are outlined. Measurements have been made on the velocity of sound in several types of oil. The values are similar for a wide variety of oils, and thus this parameter is not critical to the use of ultrasonics in oil-thickness measurements.
- OSTI ID:
- 478118
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970319--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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