REMOTE SENSING APPLIED TO THE MONITORING AND MAPPING OF OIL SPILL ZONES IN SOYO, NORTHERN ANGOLA: SAR SATELLITE IMAGING FOR THE DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE 2021 POLYPHASIC OIL SPILL EVENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63330/sasciencesv6n2-059Palabras clave:
Angola, Environmental monitoring, Oil spill detection, Remote sensing, SAR imagery, Sentinel-1, SoyoResumen
This article presents the first scientific investigation conducted in Angola employing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery for the detection, mapping, and characterization of oil spills along the coastal zone of Soyo Municipality, Zaire Province. The occurrence of a polyphasic event in 2021, originating from Block 32 (operated by TotalEnergies), motivated the development of an integrated remote sensing methodology based on SAR imagery from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-1 satellite. The proposed methodology comprised the following sequential steps: (i) acquisition of Sentinel-1 IW-GRD imagery on the dates of August 23, September 4, October 22, November 3, November 15, and November 24, 2021; (ii) radiometric and geometric preprocessing through the SNAP software, including thermal noise removal, radiometric calibration, Range-Doppler geometric correction with SRTM digital elevation model, and application of Lee-Sigma speckle filter with a 7x7 window; (iii) speckle filtering processing and backscattering profile analysis (Oil Spill Profile Plot) for semantic identification of oil slicks; (iv) discrete quartile classification and raster-to-vector conversion in QGIS environment; and (v) socio-environmental vulnerability analysis through the Euclidean distance method integrated with bathymetric and population data. The results demonstrated efficient detection of oil slicks across all analyzed dates, with spatial extents ranging between 40 km2 (August 23, 2021) and 437 km2 (November 15, 2021), totaling an affected area exceeding 1,450 km2 throughout the monitored period. The November 15, 2021 spill proved the most destructive, impacting the Congo River estuary and the northern coast with severe ecological consequences. The vulnerability analysis identified critical populated areas, particularly fishing communities at Kifuma Sea, located 18 km from Soyo municipal headquarters, which remained exposed to residual contamination more than one year after the initial event. This study demonstrates the exceptional applicability of SAR technology for oil spill detection under tropical conditions, independent of cloud coverage, and establishes a methodological precedent for future systematic monitoring along the Angolan coast. All developed algorithms, classifications performed, and thematic maps presented constitute original work by the author.
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