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6.01 CleanSeaNet oil spill and vessel detection services products

Agency responsible
Data group
06. Earth Observation Products
Coast Guard Functions with access
Maritime Environmental Protection & Response
Status of implementation
Available
Dissemination channels
Agency web interface
Point(s) of contact

EMSA’s Maritime Support Services (MSS)

Submitted by Ioana.Hartescu on

EMSA’s Maritime Support Services (MSS)

Telephone
+351 211 209 415
Fax
+351 211 209 480
Email
MaritimeSupportServices@emsa.europa.eu
Last reviewed on
Last saved on
Description

CleanSeaNet is the European satellite-based oil spill and vessel detection service which offers assistance to participating States for the following activities:

·         Identifying and tracing oil pollution on the sea surface;

·         Monitoring accidental pollution during emergencies;

·         Contributing to the identification of polluters.

Data elements

The following products are available in CleanSeaNet

Value added products Description
Oil spill detection

The oil spill detection product refers to the identification of potential oil spills in satellite images (both SAR and optical). The nominal delivery times for this product are 20 minutes for SAR based images and 40 minutes for optical.

The relevant attributes of the oil spill product are:

  • Centre - latitude/longitude coordinates
  • Geometry - polygon describing oil spill and associated slicks boundaries
  • Area - expressed in m2
  • Time stamp - date/time of the observation
  • Classification level - the probability/ confidence that the detection is oil
Possible pollution source type/detection/vessel identification/track
Vessel detection

The vessel detection product refers to the extraction of vessel positions based on echoes or detectable objects in the satellite image that may be vessels. This product has nominal delivery times of 20 minutes for SAR-based and 40 minutes for optical-based products and it includes the following attributes:

  • Position - latitude/longitude coordinates
  • Time Stamp - date/time of acquisition
  • Confidence level of vessel detection - quantitative measurement of the uncertainty associated with the detection of a vessel, on a scale 1 to 100
  • Length and width - expressed in meters (when possible)
  • Heading - route direction (when possible)
  • Speed - expressed in m/s (when possible)
  • Vessel classification - category of the vessel e.g. fishing vessel, sailing vessel, merchant vessel (when possible)
  • Associated error elements for all parameters
Met-Ocean products (SAR derived wind and wave)

This product entails the delivery of a package containing ocean surface wind and wave (swell) derived from SAR imagery. The attributes of these products are:

  • Wind speed - expressed in m/s
  • Wind direction - wind from direction
  • Wave height - sea surface swell wave significant height, expressed in m
Wave direction - sea surface swell wave direction

 

  • Fusion products
Fusion products Description
Vessel detection correlation

Vessel detections derived from SAR and optical images are correlated against vessel data, such as:

  • Automatic Identification System (AIS) reported positions from terrestrial and satellite AIS system data;
  • Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) reported positions;
  • Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data.

This product provides an overview of which vessels are reporting and which are not in a given area and contains two layers:

  • Vessel detections correlated with vessel reporting information
  • Vessel detections not correlated with vessel reporting information
It should be noted that a user will only receive correlations of vessel reporting information for which that user has been granted the relevant access rights.
Oil spill alert reports

This product is based on the Quasi Real Time (QRT)/Near Neal Time (NRT) analysis of satellite images in order to detect possible oil spills on the sea surface. When a possible spill is detected within the alert area of a coastal state, an oil spill notification is sent to the relevant authorities.

This report includes:

  • Complete details of the oil spills detected
  • Identification of polluters
  • Alert level based on user defined rules
Context maps overlaying electronical nautical charts with the possible spill position.

 

Full documentation characterizing the individual data elements for basic, value added and fusion products are available in the Earth Observation Data Centre (EODC) External Interface Control Document (EICD) version 2.0.0.

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Legal basis

Directive 2005/35/EC (since amended by Directive 2009/123/EC) on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties, including criminal penalties, for pollution offences. The Directive tasks EMSA to "work with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance in actions such as tracing discharges by satellite monitoring and surveillance".

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Scope and source of data

The CleanSeaNet service is based on the regular ordering of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images, providing night and day worldwide coverage of maritime areas independent of fog and cloud cover. The information retrieved includes among others: spill location, spill area and length, confidence level of the detection and supporting information on the potential source of the spill (i.e. detection of vessels and oil and gas installations). Optical satellite images can also be acquired upon request, depending on the situation and user’s needs and mostly in support to pollution emergencies

The following sources of data are used in CleanSeaNet products:

  • Earth Observation
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Optical
Sentinel-1A/B L1B Worldview-1/2/3
Radarsat-2 GeoEye
TerraSAR-X/Tandem-X Pleiades 1A/1B
PAZ SPOT-5/6/7
  Deimos-2
  EROS-B
  • In-situ data used in the production, quality control and validation of basic and added value products
  • Vessel reporting information
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Technical implementation

The provision of CSN relies on several different technical components:

  • Satellite assets used to acquire images.
  • Ground stations used in the downlink and processing of the satellite data received.
  • High speed networks used in the delivery of information from ground stations to EMSA.
  • EMSA’s Earth Observation Data Centre, where the products are received, ingested, further processed and enriched, and made available to users and other EMSA systems.
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Conditions of access

Public administrations (e.g. marine pollution response authorities, harbour authorities, coast guard) from the 27 EU Member States and EFTA coastal states can access the CleanSeaNet products. Additionally, beneficiary countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy projects can also access the service.

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