Preface

The tragedy of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill won't soon be forgotten. It serves as a reminder of how much more needs to be done in terms of protecting the environment from disasters. This book provides a comprehensive overview of oil spills from various perspectives. These perspectives shed light on the potential environmental effects of oil spills, how to identify them from space, and how to mitigate or prevent them.

Chapter 1 examines the use of key remote sensing to track oil spills and discusses the greatest obstacles to remotely monitoring oil spills.

Chapter 2 discusses the relationship between thermal maturity evolution and hydrocarbon cracking. The former is a process whereby the chemical composition of organic matter changes as it is subjected to increasing levels of heat over time. The latter is a chemical reaction that occurs when organic molecules are exposed to high temperatures, which breaks them down into smaller components. These two processes are related in that thermal maturity evolution is a prerequisite for hydrocarbon cracking to occur. The relationship between thermal maturity evolution and hydrocarbon cracking is critical in petroleum geology, as it can give insight into the formation of oil reserves. By understanding the relationship between thermal maturity evolution and hydrocarbon cracking, petroleum geologists can better assess potential areas for oil exploration. The Anambra Basin in Nigeria's Lower Benue Trough serves as the case study in this chapter. According to the chapter, post-maturity status could be associated with deeper burial depths, possibly as a result of the effect of Santonian tectonic episodes.

Chapter 3 discusses mechanical techniques for cleaning up oil spills. It describes the use of sorbents, oil skimmers, and containment booms for accidental oil spills. It compares the effectiveness of various sorbent types using experiments and studies. Non-polar hydrocarbons were found in purified water, which demonstrated that additional cleaning techniques were needed because the water did not meet the standards for surface water. The chapter also tests an absorption sock's sorption capacity, which is beneficial for smaller oil spills because it combines the containment of oil and the recovery of oil compounds.

Chapter 4 provides examples of local and nonlocal oil spills and discusses how they affect South Carolina's coastal waters and the continental margins of the United States. In 2010, there was a sizeable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which has a huge number of oil drilling platforms and daily oil tanker traffic. The United States Administration lifted its ban on oil drilling in the coastal waters of North Carolina in 2017. Thus, two inquiries are raised. First, could the coast of Carolina be affected by an oil spill in the Gulf? Second, under typical environmental conditions, could an oil spill reach the beaches if it occurred off the coast of North Carolina in the future? This chapter offers answers to both of these questions.

Finally, Chapter 5 discusses detecting and identifying oil spills in coastal regions or marine surroundings. Normally, oil spills in coastal regions impact the characteristics of environmental activities, which are monitored through several radar satellites and sensors. Thus, researchers are developing several of these approaches for detecting and identifying spills in these areas.

The chapter also discusses the effects of contemporary environmental bio-systems, their control measurement approaches, and their surveillance operations. These operations include characterizations of oil spills and the quality of their impacts. Eventually, the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image region classification based on its feature extraction will be utilized to detect oil spills. The dark region selection in the image can be used to monitor this using remote sensing techniques.

I wish to convey my appreciation to the staff at IntechOpen, especially Author Service Manager Ms. Dolores Kuzelj, for their assistance throughout the publication process.

**Dr. Maged Marghany**

**Chapter 1**

*Maged Marghany*

**1. Introduction**

the author's opinion.

**Figure 1.**

*Sinking oil tanker Amoco Cadiz.*

**1.1 What is meant by an oil spill?**

and is carried by the wind, currents, and tides [1–5].

Introductory Chapter: Issues with

Oil Spills and Remote Monitoring

The oil spill is a popular topic for pollution discussion because of the extent of the environmental harm it can produce. Additionally, it may have a variety of negative effects on ecosystems and economies, ranging from immediate extinction of species and habitat destruction to long-term water contamination effects. These outcomes can be disastrous and can include everything from long-term water pollution to irreversible changes in species populations and habitat destruction. This introductory chapter would be demonstrated a variety of other concepts in addition to oil spills, in

What exactly is oil? In line with the basic definition, oil is an organic compound that is soluble or readily soluble in water but not readily soluble in other liquids and is found in crude oil. An oil spill occurs when oil floats on the surface of bodies of water

The most visible source of oil pollution in the marine environment is operational oil discharges and spills from ships, particularly tankers, offshore platforms, and pipelines. Take the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker as an example (**Figure 1**). In 1978, this tanker ran aground off the French coast, causing 68.7 million gallons of oil to spill.

Distinguished Professor, Global Geoinformation, Sdn. Bhd. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
