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Project Number 157
Date of Summary November 22, 2000
Subject Development of an Airborne Oil Spill Thickness Sensor
Performing Activity Emergencies Science Division, Environment Canada
Principal Investigator Dr. Merv F. Fingas, Dr. Carl E. Brown
Contracting Agency Minerals Management Service
Estimated Completion September 30, 2001
Description This is a Joint Industry Project (JIP) between MMS, Environment Canada, Imperial Oil Resources Ltd., and the Industrial Materials Institute. This project was initiated to develop new oil slick thickness sensor technology for measurement of oil slick thickness on water. The objectives include: develop the technology of oil slick thickness sensor for the measurement of oil slick thickness on water from an airborne platform. This technology has application in several areas including: absolute measurement of dispersant effectiveness, fundamental understanding of oil slick spreading and volume estimation of oil slicks.

The redesigned LURSOT (Laser Ultrasonic Remote Sensing of Oil Thickness) system had undergone extensive modifications and rigorous laboratory inspections in preparation for planned airborne flight test’s. The four sets of flights were supposed to:

(1) verify individual components of the LURSOT system,

(2) verify correct operations of the triggering mechanism,

(3) verify correct operation of the vertical compensation device, and

(4) airborne test the complete LURSOT system including airborne measurement of oil slick thickness over man made slicks.

The flights were cancelled when the principal investigator for this project suddenly resigned. No suitable replacement was located, so installation of the LURSOT into Environment Canada's DC-3 remote sensing aircraft was put on hold indefinitely.
Progress

Reports
AA (55 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Choquet, M., Monchalin, J., Modeling of Thermoelastic Generation of Ultrasound in Oil Upon Water: Task 2 - Final Report, Industrial Material Institute, National Research Council of Canada, Boucherville, Quebec, Canada, November 29, 1990.
AB (15 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Fingas, M. F., Remote Sensing of Oil Spills, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Arctic and Marine Oil Spill Program Technical Seminar, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, pp. 361-386, June 6-8, 1990.
AC (5 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Goodman, R. H., Remote Sensing - What Do You Really Need?, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Arctic and Marine Oil Spill Program Technical Seminar, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, pp. 479-485, June 6- 8, 1990.
AD (123 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Investigations of Remote Oil Thickness Measurement, Final Report, Canpolar, Inc., Downsview, Ontario, Canada, June 1990.
AE (7 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Choquet, M., Heon, R., Vaudreuil, G., Monchalin, J., Padioleau, C., Goodman, R. H., Remote Thickness Measurement of Oil Slicks on Water by Laser-Ultrasonics, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial Conference on the Prevention, Behavior, Control, and Cleanup of Oil Spills, pp. 531-536, Tampa, Florida, March 29 - April 1, 1993.
AF (14 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Brown, C., Fruhwirth, M., Fingus, M., Vaudreuil, G., Monchalin, J., Choquet, M., Heon, R., Padioleau, C., Goodman, R., Mullin J., Oil Slick Thickness Measurement: A Possible Solution to a Long- Standing Problem, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Arctic Marine Oil Spill Program Technical Seminar, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, pp 427-440, 1995.
AG (162 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Final Report on a Study into the Feasibility of Constructing an Operational Sensor for Laser-Ultrasonic Remote Sensing of Oil Thickness(LURSOT), SSC File No.: 3SS.K2062-4-0015, Contract No.: K2062-4-0015/01-SS, Optech Incorporated, North York, Toronto, Ontario, October, 1994.
AH Brown, C., Fruhwirth, M., Fingus, M., Vaudreuil, G., Monchalin, J., Choquet, M., Heon, R., Padioleau, C., Goodman, R., Mullin J., Absolute Measurement of Oil Slick Thickness: Why Do We Need to Know and How Can We Achieve It?, presented at the Third Thematic Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments, Seattle, Washington, September 18-20, 1995. (Out of Print)
AI (4 pages) File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . Brown, C.E., Fingas, M.F., Goodman, R.H., Mullin, J.V., Choquet, M and Monchalin, J.P.  Progress in Achieving Airborne Oil Slick Thickness Measurement.

 

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