• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.376-379
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• 2006

A numerous oil slicks of natural origin were revealed in the southwest (SW) part of Caspian Sea by the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by Envisat satellite in 2003-2004. On the basis of computer processing, visual analysis of SAR images and comparisons with bathymetry, geophysical and seismic data in geographic information system (GIS), a link between these slicks and unloading of liquid hydrocarbons in the SW Caspian is established. Oil slicks are basically concentrated above domes of local geological formations of the sedimentary cover. In total more than 90 seeps and mud volcanoes having a repeating regime and representing an active type were identified; they are distributed across the SW Azerbaijan and West Iranian sectors. Periodical occurrence of slicks can reflect alternation of mud volcanism pulses forced by intensive seismicity with the quiet periods. Seepage rate of oil in the SW part of the Caspian Sea according to SAR images is estimated to be up to 16,000 metric tons per year. The importance of unloading of oils on hydrochemistry and ecological conditions of the Caspian Sea is demonstrated. Conclusion is done that the Envisat SAR to be an excellent tool for studying oil seeps through observation oil slicks floating on the sea surface.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.858-867
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• 2011

In this paper, we propose a microwave radiometer for remote sensing of oil spills on the water surface. In order to achieve the development aim of the measurement accuracy within 0.2 mm for oil slicks of 0~4 mm thickness, the requirements of the microwave radiometer and the specifications of its receiver are drawn. From these requirements and specifications, the receiver with high gain, high sensitivity is designed and implemented. The receiver has the bandwidth of 58 MHz, the system gain of 47.3 dB and the sensitivity of 0.46 K at 10.65 GHz. The processes of design and implementation of the receiver are described in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed microwave radiometer in the measurement of oil slicks is demonstrated experimentally. The results show the microwave radiometer can detect the oil slicks for 0~5 mm thickness within the accuracy of 0.13 mm successfully.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.38-48
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• 1999

The oil spill accident near Goeje Island on April 3, 1997 was analyzed using two RADARSAT SAR images. The first scene was acquired 3 days after the accident as an extended low beam mode and the second scene was acquired 12 hours after the first scene as a standard beam mode. The two scenes showed slicks not only by oil spills but also by oil spill look-alikes caused by wind sheltering, low wind, natural film, and etc. These slicks were analyzed and classified, and natural films produced from aquaculture farms around Goeje Island were also suggested as a strong candidate for slicks on SAR images. The study with two SAR imags indicated the oil spill patterns which spreaded to the southwest immediately after the accident and switched the direction to the east. The spreading patterns shown in two SAR images also showed good agreement with in-situ observations.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 1999

Several physical phenomena on the sea surface are analyzed from SAR images of South Sea areas, Korea. Strong wave patterns propagating in southerly direction are seen in ERS-1 SAR image on October 11, 1994, and a wave directional spectrum is calculated from this image using the SAR modulation transfer function. RADARSAT SAR image of August 15, 1996 reveals internal waves in northern coastal waters of Cheju Island. Analysis indicates that the internal waves may have been generated by the tidal currents traveling over the shallow bottom of the stratified water in the summer during the tidal changeovers fro ebb to flood and shows patterns of trains of solitons. RADARSAT SAR image taken 3 days after the oil spill accident near Goeje Isalnd on April 3, 1997 detects distinct oil slicks from the accident area but also shows slicks near the coast caused by wind sheltering of coastal mountains and chemical-biological activities.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.64-73
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• 2024

Oil spills pose significant threats to marine ecosystems, human health, socioeconomic aspects, and coastal communities. Accurate real-time predictions of oil slick transport along coastlines are paramount for quick preparedness and response efforts. This study used an open-source OpenOil numerical model to simulate the fate and trajectories of oil slicks released during the 2007 Hebei Spirit accident along the Korean coasts. Six combinations of input parameters, derived from a five-day met-ocean dataset incorporating various hydrodynamic, meteorological, and wave models, were investigated to determine the input variables that lead to the most reasonable results. The predictive performance of each combination was evaluated quantitatively by comparing the dimensions and matching rates between the simulated and observed oil slicks extracted from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data on the ocean surface. The results show that the combination incorporating the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) for hydrodynamic parameters exhibited more substantial agreement with the observed spill areas than Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), yielding up to 88% and 53% similarity, respectively, during a more than four-day oil transportation near Taean coasts. This study underscores the importance of integrating high-resolution met-ocean models into oil spill modeling efforts to enhance the predictive accuracy regarding oil spill dynamics and weathering processes.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 2016

The FDS-HCIB method is expanded to simulate water-oil-air flows around oil booms under relative motion, which is intended to increase the thickness of contained oil. The FDS scheme captures discontinuity in the density field and abrupt change of the tangential velocity across an interface without smearing. The HCIB method handles relative motions of thin oil booms with ease. To validate the developed FDS-HCIB code for water-oil-air flow around a moving body, the computed results are compared with the reported experimental results on the shape, length, and thickness of the oil slicks under towing. It is observed that the increase in pressure field between two barriers lifts the oil slick and the interfacial wave propagates and reflects as one barrier gets closer to the other barrier.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.985-988
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• 2006

Oil spills cause huge material damage. Oil and oil products spills may occur at any stage of the offshore oil production and transportation cycle. Therefore taking into account the current trends of oil production, the task of creating a system for shelf and tank fleet monitoring becomes very crucial today. This document describes the technology being implemented to improve oil spill monitoring and surveillance, to ensure SAR data fast acquisition and processing and to develop geographic information systems in support of spill response decision making. The results of technology implementation are also presented below.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.40-51
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• 1998

The interaction of contained oil slicks with current was investigated with a two-dimensional experimental setup in the circulating water channel facility. A vertical plate was used to contain the oils against the currents and the evolution of the oil slick, mainly focusing on the water/oil interface, was examined with an aid of a laser sheet. Two different oils - soy bean oil and diesel oil - were studied with varying the current speed (10 cm/sec to 35 cm/sec), the barrier depth (4 cm and 8 cm) and the volume of oil (2 liter to 12 liter). Different types of the interface behavior were observed according to the conditions and their mechanism was discussed based basically on the dimensional analysis. The critical speeds of two types of oil loss mechanism (entrainment failure and drainage failure) were also examined.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.148-155
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• 2015

Using dispersants is known to be an effective solution to accelerate the natural dispersion and being an appropriate oil spill response strategy. By breaking up large oil chunks into small droplets, dispersants are generally intended to help reducing further oil exposures and slicks. Collecting property data of circulating crude oil in South Korea and understanding the interaction between crude oils and dispersions need to be preceded for the effective dispersant use. This paper provides an property analysis of three selected oils which have the same composition of spilt oils from the Herbei Spirit Incident and conducts an emulsification and toxicity experiment with selected domestic and foreign dispersants. Results will present a direction of future domestic dispersants' development which aimed at eco-friendly and safety.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.645-655
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• 2013

As one of segmentation techniques for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image with oil spill, we applied a bimodal histogram method to discriminate oil pixels from non-oil pixels. The threshold of each moving window was objectively determined using the two peaks in the histogram distribution of backscattering coefficients from ENVISAT ASAR image. To reduce the effect of wind speed on oil spill detection, we selected ASAR image which satisfied a limit of wind speeds for successful detection. Overall, a commonly used adaptive threshold method has been applied with a subjectively-determined single threshold. In contrast, the bimodal histogram method utilized herein produces a variety of thresholds objectively for each moving window by considering the characteristics of statistical distribution of backscattering coefficients. Comparison between the two methods revealed that the bimodal histogram method exhibited no significant difference in terms of performance when compared to the adaptive threshold method, except for around the edges of dark oil spots. Thus, we anticipate that the objective method based on the bimodality of oil slicks may also be applicable to the detection of oil spills from other SAR imagery.