MV Wakashio, a Bulk carrier owned by Japanese shipping company Nagashiki, was on its way to Brazil from China where it had delivered its consignment of iron-ore. It was on a standby mode waiting for its orders when it collided with a 'reef' off the south east coast of Mauritius on 25th July 2020. It was carrying 4000 tonnes of Fuel and the crash resulted in a leakage of approximately 1000 tonnes - the equivalent of 7000 barrels.
The image below depicts the extent of the Oil Spill, as extracted from Sentinel SAR satellite imagery as on 10th August 2020.
Much thanks to RUS Copernicus for the training data. Sentinel-1B SAR imagery has a 5 m by 20 m Spatial Resolution. The results are indicative in nature and for informational purposes only
Mauritius, by virtue of being a small tourism-centric nation, didn't have the adequate resources to combat and contain the Oil Spill. Its pristine beaches, coral reefs and turquoise lagoons were under threatened with the prospect of irreversible damage and, as a result, its government declared a state of Environmental Emergency and sought help from France in particular (its neighboring island Réunion is an overseas French territory) to deal with this unprecedented crisis.
A positive development was that 3000 tonnes of fuel (out of the 4000 it was carrying) was pumped out of the ship's reservoir before it could have leaked into the ocean. This was a timely intervention as the ship broke into two a few days later and a major crisis was averted. However, the devastation being caused by the 1000 tonnes of Oil Spill is still considerable. Marine creatures were reported to be dying in numbers, the Oil vapors are causing discomfort and health issues for the coastal residents and the Mauritian economy is expected to suffer considerably due to the adverse impact this spillage will have on Tourism in this region of the country.
Video 1: Extent of Mauritius Oil Spill. Source: The National, 8th August 2020
It is important to note that Remotely-sensed Data and subsequent Satellite Imagery Analytics is 'indicative' in nature i.e. it is influenced by the Imagery Source and Analysis parameters.
For example, the Finnish micro-satellite operator ICEYE shared this imagery analytics output on 11th August (depicted below) - it shows a greater area affected by Oil Spill than what I had found. This can be due to the fact that ICEYE satellite is specially calibrated to detect Oil Spills unlike the Imagery source I had used - Sentinel-1 SAR. Moreover, it is safe to assume that their scientific researchers would have used more refined Imagery Analysis methodology as well compared to mine.
Compared to the Gulf Oil spill (Deepwater Horizon), where 3.19 million oil barrels were leaked, this incident was much smaller in magnitude. However, there has been an increase in Oil leakages-related incidents in ecologically sensitive regions recently - in Mauritius as well as at other locations (notably in the Arctic Ocean) and this calls for serious contemplation about the Shipping Routes used to transport Fuel, the urgent need to switch to Renewables, the need to install Early Warning Systems, and measures to combat and contain such ecological disasters in quick time.
I can't help but feel that the year 2020 is Nature's way to send us a strong reminder to mend our relationship with the Environment before it is too late.
I've demonstrated several other Remote-Sensing based workflows for Earth Observation on this professional blog. Access them here.
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