Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
lower row contains the values calculated for the winter periods (October -
March). The maximum mean wind speed in the Baltic Sea test area (left
column of Figure 5) lies between 8 and 9 m s
-1
during summer and be-
tween 9 and 10 m s
-1
during winter. The corresponding values for the
North Sea test area (middle column) are 7 and 8 m s
-1
(summer) and 10
and 11 m s
-1
(winter), and for the northwestern Mediterranean Sea test area
they are 6 and 7 m s
-1
(summer) and 8 and 9 m s
-1
(winter), respectively.
Thus, on average, oil spill detection using SAR techniques should be most
successful in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea during the summer pe-
riod, and it should be least successful in the North Sea test area during
winter period.
Fig. 5.
Mean wind speeds for the three test areas, as derived from a numerical
model driven by the DWD. In the upper row the mean wind speeds are shown for
summer periods (April - September) and in the lower row for winter periods (Oc-
tober - March)
Gade and Redondo (1999) used the same data set to derive areas of
mean oil pollution by taking into account those dark patches in the SAR
images that show a significant reduction of the radar backscatter. In all
three regions they found more oil pollution during summer months (April
- September) than during winter months (October - March), which they
