My graduate work has primarily involved investigating the remote sensing of oil spills in marine and freshwater arctic environments. This research involved trips to Oliktok, Alaska and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan aimed at evaluating oil detection and potential thickness quantification using thermal sensors in said colder environments. Berms upwards of 1,300 square feet were erected in both locations to act as secondary containment for oil receptacles that had slicks of Alaskan North Slope (ANS) crude and regular diesel at Oliktok and MC20 crude with marine-grade diesel at Sault Ste. Marie. Slick thicknesses distributed ranged from 50 to 2000 microns and were evaluated for changes in thermal signal over the course of a day while light level, water temperature, air temperature, and weather conditions were closely monitored.I have now constructed a similar setup at UNH to assess the effect of the same environmental parameters in temperate weather conditions. Experiments have been conducted using HOOPS, ANS, MC20, Dilbit, #6 heavy fuel oil, regular diesel, and marine-grade diesel fuel in an attempt to detect unique thermal signatures for each crude oil under the same conditions and different oil receptacles.

During my time as an undergraduate research assistant for the Coastal Response Research Center, I developed a protocol for validating oil spill remote sensing technologies in a controlled laboratory environment. This experimental setup can reproduce uniform slicks of various fuel type, thickness, and can be modified to retrofit many remote sensing technologies. Validation testing occurred over a period of 4-5 months where double-blind testing was conducted to evaluate the ability of each oil remote sensing technology to report crude oil thickness in a controlled setting. This opportunity provided me the opportunity to collaborate with contractors and operators in the oil spill response field that utilize multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, thermal cameras, acoustic arrays, dip plates, and more to improve oil detection and thickness quantification capabilities in non-breaking wave systems.The next phase of this research was aimed at scaling up the laboratory experiments and introducing real-world conditions, such as ambient light level, air movement, and seawater. Additional double-blind testing was conducted at the National Oil Spill Response and Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, New Jersey. Using the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT), we deployed an array of containment apparatus in the form of 45 1.5-meter diameter rings. A range of thicknesses of weathered crude and emulsified weathered crude was distributed into the rings and evaluated by many of the same sensor operators that contributed to the work at UNH.