Space Imagery to Harmonize Fishery/Oil Operations

11 November 2009, 9:28pm

In the framework of the International Conference held on October 28 – 30 in Murmansk arranged by Knipovich Polar Scientific Research Institute of Fishery and Oceanography with the assistance of the Federal Fishery Agency and the Government of Murmansk Region, fishery and oil industry personnel discussed the prospects for developing fishing activities under conditions of high rate exploration of oil and gas deposits in the shelf area of the arctic seas.

The participants of the Conference “Fishing Under the Conditions of Hydrocarbons Exploration in the Continental Shelf” focused on the project of Shtokman Gas Condensate Field Exploration and specifics of seismic prospecting in the Arctic sector of Norway. In the course of the conference ScanEx company demonstrated current opportunities of using space imagery materials for accomplishing objectives of operational monitoring of environmental condition and shipping situation in sea areas for fishing purposes.

Having developed domestic space technologies in the area of satellite imagery for 20 years by now, ScanEx company has at its disposal the field-proven and effective ScanNet multisatellite monitoring technology. The key components of this technology are UniScan universal stations for receiving space data, prompt satellite pointing to regions to be imaged, parallel near real-time flow processing of images supplied by a group of satellites both optical and all-weather radar satellite with different hardware for detail imagery of Earth, and application of web-based geoportal technologies.

Taking into account specific goals set for fishery and oil and gas industries ScanNet technology is efficient in:

— monitoring illegal economic activities, unauthorized fishing,
— monitoring water and land pollution,
— monitoring fishing fleet operations,
— defining prospective fishing zones;
— monitoring onshore infrastructure construction,
— assessing offshore oil production and transportation impacts to the environment,
— coordinating interactions of agencies, organizations, etc.

The ScanNet technology was successfully applied as early as this spring when on behalf of regional Emercom and Roshydromet authorities ScanEx Company implemented the “2009 Flood” project by monitoring ice drift on the largest rivers of Russia. Nowadays ScanNet is the core technology for implementation of a number of projects on operational monitoring including that of sea areas. With that, radar data of ENVISAT-1 and RADARSAT-1 ensure detection of oil pollution and determination of their geospatial parameters and origin. By using MODIS optical data in specialized software developed by ScanEx, sea surface temperature, chlorophyll concentration and sea water suspended matter content maps are produced. In turn, geoportal services developed on the basis of the GeoMixer technology ensure prompt delivery of satellite and analytical information to users, which do not require special knowledge in the area of space-based methods – a web browser suffices for data viewing and analysis.

The interest demonstrated by fishery and oil industry towards modern satellite methods at the conference in Murmansk, will perhaps intensify introduction of space imagery-based technologies for resolving outstanding issues in the area of harmonizing the process of arctic shelf exploration and conservation of its biodiversity. The outcome of the Conference “Fishing Under the Conditions of Hydrocarbons Exploration in the Continental Shelf” will be used for developing recommendations for shaping such balanced relationship between the industries.

Detailed information concerning opportunities for using space technologies to monitor sea condition can be obtained by attending the section “Satellite Methods for Sea Area Monitoring”, which will be held on December 2, 2009 in the framework of the 4th International Conference “Earth from Space – the Most Effective Solutions”.

ScanEx RDC

Geo: International