Satellites spot major oil spill in the Arctic Circle
Two European satellites have spotted a catastrophic oil spill in the Arctic Circle. About 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil has leaked into a river in the Arctic Circle after a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed at the end of May. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched an investigation into the incident, as the plant reportedly waited for two days before informing authorities about the spill.
As you can see above, the oil travelled down the Ambarnaya River on 31 May and 1 June. The river flows into Lake Pyasino, which feeds into the Pyasina River. Watching from space, the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission has observed the spill, for which Russia has declared a state of emergency.
The spill has contaminated a swath of land that covers roughly 350 square kilometres. It is believed that ground subsidence – the sinking or settling of the ground – beneath storage tanks holding fuel at the plant is behind this spill. This incident comes during a time when unusually high temperatures are causing the Arctic permafrost to melt.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 is an ESA mission made up of two satellites circling Earth in a Sun-synchronous orbit. The satellites monitor and take high-resolution images of Earth’s surface. They contribute important data to the European Union’s Copernicus program, which focuses on issues including climate change, land monitoring and emergency management.