The potential of multi- and hyperspectral air- and spaceborne sensors to detect crude oil hydrocarbon in soils long after a contamination event

Crude oil contamination is hazardous to health, negatively impacts vital life sources, and causes land and ecological degradation. The basic premise of the prevalent spectroscopic analyses for detecting such contamination is that crude oil spectral features are observable in the spectrum. Such analyses, however, have failed to address instances where the expected spectral features are not visible in the spectrum. Hence, a more refined method was recently published, which accounts for such cases. This method was successfully applied to a hyperspectral image over an arid area long after a contamination event. This study aimed to determine whether that same method could be successfully applied using a variety of other operational and future instruments, both air- and spaceborne, with different spatial and spectral characteristics. To that end, a series of simulation experiments was performed, including various spectral and spatial resolutions. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the classification are reported. The results indicate that the hyperspectral information can be reduced to one-third of its original size, while maintaining high accuracy and a quality classification map. A ground sampling distance of 7.5 m seems to be the boundary of an acceptable classification outcome. The overall conclusion of this study was that the method is robust enough to perform under various spectral and spatial configurations. Therefore, it could be a promising tool to be integrated into environmental protection and resource management programs.