Oil Spill Detection using Landsat Thermal Infrared Imagery; A Case Study of the Northern Persian Gulf

Remote sensing technology is one of the methods to detect oil spill, especially in a large region. The high resolution satellite images can be used in primary steps of oil exploration. The aim of this study was to detect the oil spill events of June 2, and 10, 2015, around oil platforms, northern Persian Gulf, using Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 thermal infrared imagery. The applied method was based on measuring the sea surface temperature using the thermal bands. Results showed that the sea surface covered by oil spill has lower temperature than surroundings. It indicates that the derived sea surface temperature just reflects the mentioned status, and this method can be used to detect the potential oil basins. Finally, the results were verified using the Kappa coefficient as part of the confusion matrix; in addition, the amounts of the Kappa coefficient were estimated 0.98 and 0.85 for bands 10 and 11 of Landsat 8, and 0.92 for band 6 of Landsat 7 respectively. These values confirmed the accuracy of results with acceptable coefficients.