Modelling of visibility of oil dispersed in the sea water column

Oil pollution in marine environment is a serious threat both to a variety of animals living in it and the people who benefit from this wealth. These impurities may occur in the depths of the sea as a result of discharges from ships, naval disasters, failures of underwater systems of oil extraction and transportation as well as polluted inflows from the land. The pollutions may be present on the surface in the form of oil layers or films that can be readily observed remotely. But they may also arise in the form of an emulsion of oil beneath the surface of the water. In this case the oil contamination detection is difficult. In this paper we consider the impact of underwater oil emulsion layer (5 m) on the property which is measured remotely – remote sensing reflectance RSR. The RSR values were calculated using the Monte Carlo method for the Inherent Optical Properties measured in the Gulf of Mexico where the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between late April and mid July 2010. Influence of the depth at which the layer of emulsion exists – on visibility of “oil-cloud” is evidenced. In the studied case the observed contrast of oiled area is negative and reaches zero for the depth exceeding 20 m.