Monitoring of Oil Spill Pollution Using EOS-04 C-Band SAR Over Bombay High Field - a Prelude to NISAR

The North Eastern Arabian Sea (NEAS) is highly prone to oil spill pollution due to extensive shipping, international oil tanker routes, and offshore oil rigs. Studies reveal that the Bombay High Field (BHF) in NEAS is a major contributor to this pollution. Hence, this research pioneers the use of ISRO’s EOS-04 SAR data for monitoring oil pollution in NEAS. The study includes a comparison of EOS-04 C-Band SAR with Sentinel-1AC-Band SAR to assess its capability in mapping oil spills and maritime features. Demonstrated an example of EOS-04 oil-spill look-alike case over the Bombay High region. Time series data of EOS-04 SAR from March 2022 to November 2023 were analyzed and estimated monthly distribution of spill area. The total oil pollution area is 2193 sq km and an oil release of approximately 435.35 tons over BHR. This study highlights the importance of oil spill pollution monitoring to protect the marine environment from unaccounted, unreported oil released in the Arabian Sea. With the upcoming RISAT-1B and NISAR, the multi-frequency observations in the L, S, and C bands will provide an unprecedented opportunity to characterize the oil spill in a much better way with a large swath and increased temporal accuracy.