Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, Jardim da Granja, 12227-010 São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (UFSB), Rodovia de Acesso para Itabuna, Km 39, 45613-204 Porto Seguro, BA, Brazil.
An Acad Bras Cienc. 2022 Sep 2;94(suppl 2):e20210391. doi: 10.1590/0001-3765202220210391. eCollection 2022.
During the last quarter of 2019, the beaches, mangroves, and estuaries of Northeast Brazil received an unprecedented volume of crude oil from the sea, which became the worst environmental disaster ever to reach the Brazilian coast. The oil, having reached the shores completely unnoticed, left both society and government agents completely clueless on (i) where the oil was coming from; (ii) how much oil was still in the ocean to reach the shorelines; and (iii) which beaches were going to be affected next! By exploring remote sensing data and ocean numerical modeling, along with oil dispersion chemistry on sea water, this study investigates the possible origin and path of the spill and whether it could have been detected from space. The oil dispersion modeling simulations performed for this investigation revealed a possible region and timing of the oil spill, also indicating the likelihood of it being advected toward the shoreline under the ocean surface.
在 2019 年的最后一个季度，巴西东北部的海滩、红树林和河口地区接收了前所未有的海上原油，这成为了有史以来最严重的环境灾难，波及到了巴西海岸。这些原油完全是在人们毫无察觉的情况下抵达海岸的，这让社会和政府机构都对以下情况一无所知：（i）这些原油来自何处；（ii）仍有多少原油在海洋中并即将抵达海岸线；以及（iii）接下来哪些海滩将受到影响！本研究通过探索遥感数据和海洋数值模型，以及海水的石油扩散化学，调查了溢油的可能来源和路径，以及是否可以从太空进行检测。为此项调查而进行的石油扩散建模模拟结果显示了溢油的可能区域和时间，并表明其在海面下可能被海流输送到了海岸线附近。
