Oil slicks in the Gulf of Guinea – 10 years of Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar observations

Abstract. The Gulf of Guinea is a very active area with respect to maritime traffic as well oil and gas exploitation. Due the failure some actors comply environmental standards, this region has been subject large number pollution episodes. This anthropogenic in addition natural seepage from ocean floor. study aims detect slicks analyse their spatial distribution using synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images. Previous works have already locally mapped area; however, our knowledge, first achieve global statistical analysis based on 10 years images covering 17 exclusive economic zones (EEZs) Guinea. present database 3644 SAR collected between 2002 2012 by Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) sensor onboard European Spatial Agency (ESA) Envisat mission, these allowed identification 18 063 slicks. available Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6470470 (Najoui, 2022b). detected work encompass both spills origin seeps (natural reservoir leaks). A set 100 georeferenced also https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6907743 2022a).