Oil Spill Detection with Radar Satellites: A Niger Delta Guide

Oil spills in the Niger Delta damage mangroves, fisheries and livelihoods. Clean-up efforts such as HYPREP's Ogoniland programme are under constant public scrutiny. Fast detection and independent verification matter to communities, regulators and operators alike.

Why radar? Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), such as Sentinel-1, sends microwave pulses and measures what bounces back. Oil dampens small surface waves, so slicks look dark on radar images, day or night and through cloud.

Detection workflow 1. Acquire SAR scenes over rivers, creeks and coastal waters. 2. Flag dark patches with AI, then filter out look-alikes such as calm water and algae. 3. Cross-check with pipeline routes, AIS vessel data and optical imagery. 4. Alert response teams with coordinates and estimated slick size.

Monitoring recovery on land Spills on land and in mangroves are better tracked with optical vegetation indices. Mangrove die-back and regrowth show whether remediation is working over months and years.

Transparency dashboards Public dashboards showing spill alerts and remediation progress build trust between communities, companies and government.

StrikeClimate provides SAR-based spill alerts and remediation monitoring for regulators, operators and community organisations.