A proposal for improved oil spill monitoring of peripheral marine regions in the Baltic Sea by in-service aircraft

A cross analysis of oil spill data obtained by spaceborne and airborne sensors has shown that both systems alone are not capable of detecting all spills occurring. Only a combination of different systems can provide optimal coverage at moderate costs. As the Baltic Sea is overpassed by numerous in-service aircraft every day, the authors suggest to include these aircraft in the monitoring network. This would make oil spill monitoring more effective and the pollution control aircraft could concentrate on their main objectives: surveillance of hot spots, identification of polluters and on-scene coordination of clean-up operations. In-service aircraft could provide a basic service for the whole area improving the surveillance of peripheral regions. The paper describes the potential and limits of the proposed system