REPORT DATE: 11-22-2020
REPORT TIME: 0430 UTC
REGION: ATLANTIC
SUB REGION: MID ATLANTIC U.S.
AREA/BLOCK: Mid Atlantic  6928
IMAGE DATE: 11-21-2020
IMAGE TIME: 2257 UTC
DATA SOURCE: SENTINEL1A 
MODE: Interferometric Wide (IW) VV
RESOLUTION: 20 meter
LOCATION: 36°11'15" N/74°36'38" W
AREA: 26.56 square kilometers
CONFIDENCE: Medium-High
REMARKS: Possible oil was observed in satellite imagery. This anomaly is unconfirmed as oil. The anomaly had a large contrast with the surrounding environment with sharp well defined edges, and appeared out of place. The anomaly was 30nm long, and appeared to exhibit characteristics of a bilge dump, widening with distance from the SE end towards the NW direction. There was no vessel directly connected to the anomaly at the time when the image was taken, although there were 3 vessels within 10nm and 1 within 2nm of the anomaly. The wind at the time was from NW at 5kt.

UNCERTAINTIES: The wind at the time was weak, which was shown as dark low wind area and there were faint stripe features to the west of the anomaly as well. Moreover, no vessel could be identified as point source. However, the contrast and appearance of the anomaly suggested this was unlikely a natural phenomenon, thus a mediu-high confidence was given.

Maps and shapefiles can be accessed at: www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/ocean/marinepollution/

ERMA: https://erma.noaa.gov/atlantic/erma.html#/layers=1+45578&x=-74.59007638462631&y=36.18022898927224&z=11&panel=layer

If you would like to share any feedback about this report or have questions, please contact the operational analyst at (301) 683-1403 or send to oceanmap@noaa.gov. Email alerts are available only for federal and state government officials involved in response efforts. Requests to be added to the email alerts should also be sent to oceanmap@noaa.gov. Please allow up to 2 business days to process the request.

For further information on oil spill response and assessment go to:https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/oil-and-chemical-spills/oil-spills 

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