SeaScope: From space to spill – transforming offshore pollution monitoring

Monitoring the temporal and spatial variability of offshore oil pollution is crucial for environmental protection and regulatory compliance. Whilst one-off vessel related events can be highly damaging, unnoticed releases related to oil and gas infrastructure have the potential to cause long-lasting environmental damage. Satellite Earth observation (EO) delivers high-cadence, global coverage of the oceans, and when combined with machine learning (ML) and high-performance computing (HPC), it allows oil slicks to be monitored daily on a global scale.

This session introduces SeaScope, a system that uses Viridien’s HPC infrastructure to process petabyte-scale EO archives and daily data streams in near real time. Trained on over 50 years of satellite data and developed with support from industry and the European Space Agency, SeaScope establishes baselines of “normal working conditions” and characterises slick morphology, distribution and variability distinguishing anomalous oil on the surface. Site-specific thresholds then enable robust anomaly detection and early warning of anomalous events.

We will present case studies from regions including the North Sea, the Malacca Strait and the east coast of the United States, demonstrating how SeaScope provides a step-change in oil pollution monitoring. Oil and gas monitoring is just the start though: the same framework is now being applied to wider maritime risks, including potentially polluting wrecks and other emerging environmental challenges.