This is a LIVE story and will be updated with the latest satellite photographs as soon as they become available.
Mauritius, the Indian Ocean, is in the grip of an ecological crisis following the grounding of Japanese shipping MV Wakashio, on the pristine reefs of Mauritius alongside one of its maximum atolls. This coral atoll, the island of egrets, comprises species that have not been discovered anywhere else on the island or the world.
The oil spill has already begun to encircle this atoll, the wonderful peripheral reef (one of the most productive preserved in Mauritius after surviving the bleaching waves of corals that impact other parts of the Indian Ocean) and is heading towards the historic port city of Mahébourg. It stands out for its Napoleonic naval battles, Blue Bay Marine National Park and from the north to other coral atolls.
This is the worst oil spill crisis facing the island. The local government did not have oil dams long enough in the country to surround the vessel or involve oil leaks. The ship is 259 m in a diameter of 50 m in diameter (a perimeter of 618 m).
While questions are being asked about why oil booms may not be from other countries as a component of an emergency reaction while the shipment spent thirteen days on the reef, a large voluntary effort was mobilized on social media that saw thousands of volunteers. Show. despite the fitness hazards with the strong smell of oil in the air.
Since the first crack gave the impression on the hull of the ship on Thursday, August 6, islanders across the country have accumulated in localities and supermarkets to manually gather hydrocarbon cover dams.
Just as many parts of the world had to be temporarily informed about how to make a hand mask in reaction to the Covid-19, Mauritius islanders were able to read online how other countries had controlled oil spills, adapt them to local situations where there is an abundance of dried sugarcane leaves, and exchanged social media messages about the most productive design for a boom in “Made in Mauritius” oil cover. These protective prey were sewn with nylon, clothing and stuffed with dry sugar cane grass and even human hair.
Fewer volunteers had also worked with local environmental NGOs to evacuate endangered species to safer parts of the island, until the extent of the damage in and around Egrets Island can be assessed.
When the story is despite everything that is told in MV Wakashio, it will be both the courage, innovation and solidarity of thousands of volunteers and the worst oil spill in mauritius. In the days of Covid-19, that hope was important.
These efforts, as well as the impressive rescue operation, were noticed and captured through the satellites above. These are some of the iconic photographs that are maximum since the ship’s grounding, of a variety of other satellites.
All vessels over 25 meters will have to factor an anti-collision beacon, called the Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder. This can be tracked via satellite and shows the shipping position and the direction of travel. Windward’s research traced the ship’s trajectory and speed as it approached the Mauritius coast.
Planet, a San Francisco-based satellite company, has the largest constellation of terrestrial imaging satellites, called CubeSats. These satellites were designed and built across the corporate screen and that the MV Wakashio on July 28, 2020 was first towards the edge of Mauritius’ Coral Reef.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a type of satellite sensor that you can see through the clouds and the night sky. Reflecting on the hard surfaces below, it is able to seamlessly identify the presence of vessels and is used to stumble upon illegal fishing activities when fishing transponders are disabled.
These photographs of Finland-based satellite company Iceye, and with research through Ursa Space Systems, show the MV Wakshio on the reef and then the imaginable extent of the oil spill.
On July 29, 2020, the hull of the MV Wakashio can be seen seamlessly on Mauritius reefs, appearing in a bright white, with no other ships nearby. The SAR is an essential asset for countries to help manage their national waters and is used to temporarily identify suspicious vessels or vessels that are not in the positions they are in if their transponders are off.
A larger symbol of the domain across Planet shows the ship, “Stanford Hawk”, on the edge of the reef.
Satellite photographs combined with the August 5, 2020 AIS investigation show that the 259 m long Wakashio has deviated more than 650 m in 11 days since it was stranded on Mauritius reefs. It’s a day before the escape opened in his helmet.
As a bulk cargo ship, it had a hull design, unlike oil tankers that have a double hull for greater coverage against oil spills after the Exxon Valdez crisis off the coast of Alaska in 1989.
The SAR was also able to identify the extent of the oil spill. Analysis through Ursa Space Systems’ Iceye satellites shows that on Thursday, August 6, 2020, shipping began to lose heavy oil.
The stain can be seen surrounding the circular atoll of The Island of The Garcetas and heading towards the historic port city of Mahébourg, highlighted in orange in the SAR satellite animation below. According to Ursa Space Systems calculations, the August 6 spill was estimated at 3.3 square kilometers (1.3 square miles).
According to press reports, the vessel carried 3,894 metric tons of low sulphur fuel oil, 207 metric tons of diesel and 90 metric tons of lubricating oil. A day after the start of oil leaks, the extension of the spill can be seen from space, high definition satellite images.
The extent and black oil stain on the coral lagoon and around the island of Aigrettes are obviously visual from space.
Using a high-definition satellite (panchromatic, so it is shown only in black and white), the resulting oil stain can be noticed in black on the grey background of the reef.
In these extensive images, the extension of the stain can be noticed around the islands of the Isle of Garcetas and towards the historic port city of Mahébourg.
Satellites can also capture ships involved in the rescue operation as the position and effectiveness of artisanal oil dams.
Handmade oil-involving dams have been installed in several locations to verify the involvement of the stain.
Next to the Creole river of the city along the coast from the Mahébourg boardwalk, a stopping point has been installed for the manual manufacture of oil protection dams from dried sugarcane leaves. The magnitude of this effort can be seen from space.
Many of these protective dams have been deployed along the coast of Mahebourg’s historic seafront in an attempt to cause the coastal impact.
Local fishermen used protective equipment when they went to the lagoon to deploy homemade dams.
Oil cover dams had been deployed in several locations to prevent spillage from spreading to the affected area. In these images, protective dams around Blue Bay Marine Park can be seen on August 9, 2020, while the Wakashio MV continues to leak oil. Blue Bay Marine Park is a marine habitat with an exclusive coral reef ecosystem that comes strictly from fishing and other commercial activities.
This high-resolution satellite symbol of the planet on August 11, 2020 at 1:06 p.m. shows the bow of the shipment emerging over the water as the crack widens along its hull. The symbol was taken a few hours before the widely shared online videos of the crack widening in the hull.
Analysis of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites shows that the length of the black tide is now ten times the original length, from 3.3 square kilometers on August 6, 2020 to more than 27 square kilometers on August 11, 2020. This was highlighted in Orange via Ursa Space Systems Eceye satellites.
Specially designed SAR satellites, backed by special hydrocarbon detection software, can identify the extent of oil spill sensors that capture the main points that the human eye cannot see unaided, such as reflections on the sea surface.
The resumption of rescue operations on the morning of Wednesday, August 12, is obviously visual via satellite in several theaters of operations: around the ship, coverage of Blue Bay Marine Park, coverage of Point D’Esny mangroves, Mahébourg’s waterfront coverage. Larger satellite photographs can serve as a consultation for some of the front-line efforts on the ground.
Activities continued around the vessel, which began to see the vessel’s bow soaring above the waterline as the crack widened into the appearance of the vessel and the stern approached the waterline.
At Blue Bay Marine Park, hydrocarbon cover dams are redeploying throughout the marine park to prevent the black tide from entering.
There are several satellite bureaucracies. Optical satellites are useful for identifying obviously recognizable features. Sometimes other satellite camera lenses can be useful in identifying features that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. Here, a multispectral investigation shows lines of the oil spill heading north on the morning of August 12, 2020. The symbol is 2 miles north of the shipwreck, and the symbol is now a foreground of the area. Traces of oil in the water are highlighted in orange, as is the coast.
Using satellites and analysis from meteomatics to assess weather patterns, combined with Windward’s AIS analysis, this show the conditions under which the salvage operations took place. Sped up in an animation for illustration purposes, this shows that between the vessel beaching on 25 July 2020 (start of animation) to 12 August 2020 (end of animation loop), the maximum wave height was between 3m and 7m on average each day (a proxy for the weather). Care must be taken interpreting this, as there is likely to be variation within a day that can be shown using other satellite technologies. The date stamp is in the bottom right of the animation, and the support vessels can be seen as blue triangles around the Wakashio.
I am a progressive economist aimed at innovation, sustainability and moral economic growth. Lately I’m working with leading generation corporations in Silicon Valley in
I am a progressive economist oriented to innovation, sustainability and moral economic expansion. Lately I’m working with Silicon Valley’s major generation corporations on sustainable expansion opportunities, mainly for low-income countries. I chair the LSE Ocean Financing Initiative, am a member of the WEF Global Network of Experts and a member of the Council of China of the CCICED. My e-book on Sustainability in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm, focuses on a revival of the oceans and climate and builds on my experience as an economics and innovation advisor to Fortune 500’s CEO and global governments. I have a degree in progression economics from harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Cambridge.