Assessment of MV Wakashio oil spill off Mauritius, Indian Ocean through satellite imagery: A case study

Abstract

Accidental oil spills in the near-shore regions create severe impacts on coastal environments. The bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground off Southeastern Mauritius (SEM) on 25 July 2020, resulting in ~1000 tons of oil spillage into the Indian Ocean. The Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is used to track and delineate the spilled oil and the affected coastal regions of Mauritius. The results depict that the spilled oil is primarily drifted towards the northwest, and beached along the SEM coastline, covering an area of ~24.42 km2 on 10 August. Within 6 days, the prevailing spill spreading has significantly reduced to ~5.1 km2 (on 16 August) and was almost the same even on 22 August. Subsequently, the spill spreading area has diminished further and more or less disappeared on 15 September. The assessment of SAR imagery corresponding to prevailed winds, tides, Stokes drift and currents illustrated that the spill has primarily drifted northwestwards owing to the force instigated by winds, Stokes drift and tides. This study recommends Sentinel-1 imagery to assess any such oil spill incidents in the future.