4.6 Oil Spill in Confluence of Lambro and Po Rivers
The Po River, 652 km in length, is the main Italian river. The Po watershed drains
70,000 km
2
, and land use is both industrial and agricultural. The Lambro River, a
tributary of the Po River (ca. 350 km from the mouth), flows through the most
heavily industrialised and densely populated portion of the Po River basin. The
stretch of the Po River, located immediately downstream from the confluence of the
Lambro River, does not receive any other major tributary for about 21 km along its
course. The approximate annual mean flow of the two waterbodies is ~70 m
3 s
À1 for
the Lambro River and ~580 m
3 s
À1 for the Po River in its middle reach [87]. Despite
the implementation of a sewage treatment plant built in 2002, the Lambro River
water quality remains poor [88].
On 23 February 2010, the contents of several silos containing oil and other
hydrocarbons poured into the river north of Milano. This oily mass (estimated over
2.5 million litres) flowed down the entire length of the Lambro River, and despite
both local authorities’ and civil defence’s efforts to stop the flow, on 24 February
the oil entered the Po River. This disaster, of course, caused considerable damage to
wildlife and vegetation in both rivers.
Airborne human observations can meet the primary need to identify an oil spill
but, when airborne observations are combined with imaging spectrometry, a
detailed map of the oil spill can be generated. Leifer et al. [89] made a substantial
review on oil spill remote sensing, including a segment on airborne imaging
spectrometry (cf. Table 2 in [89]). The electromagnetic spectrum, almost entirely,
from the ultraviolet toward the thermal infrared wavelengths (and further beyond
the microwave region), can be used for deriving information on oil spill events.
Fig. 8 The false colour MIVIS image of Lake Idro clearly shows floating materials of terrestrial
origin (i.e. pollen from C. libani and C. deodara). The graph shows the atmospherically corrected
MIVIS reflectance derived from the lake surface from pixels where the pollen is floating (i.e. black
line) or absent (gray line)
Imaging Spectrometry of Inland Water Quality in Italy Using MIVIS: An Overview
75
The Po River, 652 km in length, is the main Italian river. The Po watershed drains
70,000 km
2
, and land use is both industrial and agricultural. The Lambro River, a
tributary of the Po River (ca. 350 km from the mouth), flows through the most
heavily industrialised and densely populated portion of the Po River basin. The
stretch of the Po River, located immediately downstream from the confluence of the
Lambro River, does not receive any other major tributary for about 21 km along its
course. The approximate annual mean flow of the two waterbodies is ~70 m
3 s
À1 for
the Lambro River and ~580 m
3 s
À1 for the Po River in its middle reach [87]. Despite
the implementation of a sewage treatment plant built in 2002, the Lambro River
water quality remains poor [88].
On 23 February 2010, the contents of several silos containing oil and other
hydrocarbons poured into the river north of Milano. This oily mass (estimated over
2.5 million litres) flowed down the entire length of the Lambro River, and despite
both local authorities’ and civil defence’s efforts to stop the flow, on 24 February
the oil entered the Po River. This disaster, of course, caused considerable damage to
wildlife and vegetation in both rivers.
Airborne human observations can meet the primary need to identify an oil spill
but, when airborne observations are combined with imaging spectrometry, a
detailed map of the oil spill can be generated. Leifer et al. [89] made a substantial
review on oil spill remote sensing, including a segment on airborne imaging
spectrometry (cf. Table 2 in [89]). The electromagnetic spectrum, almost entirely,
from the ultraviolet toward the thermal infrared wavelengths (and further beyond
the microwave region), can be used for deriving information on oil spill events.
Fig. 8 The false colour MIVIS image of Lake Idro clearly shows floating materials of terrestrial
origin (i.e. pollen from C. libani and C. deodara). The graph shows the atmospherically corrected
MIVIS reflectance derived from the lake surface from pixels where the pollen is floating (i.e. black
line) or absent (gray line)
Imaging Spectrometry of Inland Water Quality in Italy Using MIVIS: An Overview
75