Puget Sound oil spill located using infrared images (FLIR)

Use of Infrared images to locate an oil spill at night

The tugboat, Catherine Quigg, reported that they spilled an estimated 35 to 50 gallons of diesel fuel on February 3, 2009. A 3 a.m. flight by a King County Sheriffs Office helicopter under a contract with Ecology provided infrared images that helped pinpoint the affected waters.

The spill covered an area approximately 100 feet wide and one-half to three-quarters of a mile long, north to south, 100 to 300 feet off shore between Skiff Point and Yeomalt Point.

In the FLIR video, the diesel sheen appears as a light, whitish-gray against the darker gray (normal) surface waters.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Puget Sound
• oil spill
• diesel spill
• spills response
• spills responders
• FLIR
• Washington State
• Department of Ecology
• Spills program
• water pollution