ARGO Sentinel: the mobile App for reporting oil spillages at sea

Martinelli M., Moroni D., Salvetti O.

Oil spill  Environmental monitoring  Mobile computing  PHYSICAL SCIENCES ENGINEERING  COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY 

We believe that the contribution of volunteers could play a fundamental role in monitoring and protecting the environment. People at sea sighting pollution caused by oil or hydrocarbon spillages can now immediately report this using a freely downloadable mobile application. At the Signals and Images Laboratory (SI-LAB) of the Institute of Information Science and Technology of the National Research Council of Pisa (ISTI-CNR), we have developed a Marine Information System (MIS) for monitoring vessel traffic and oil spills within the Mediterranean basin. The MIS collects and integrates geotagged data related to safety and health issues of the sea from various sources (satellites, optical sensors, electronic noses, autonomous underwater vehicle systems) and provides predictive models to assist the authorities in the management of emergencies at sea. An integrant part of the MIS is represented by the data that can be collected and shared by volunteers who want to collaborate in monitoring the status of the sea. For this purpose, we have developed ARGO Sentinel, a free application for smartphones with a Geolocation System.

Source: ERCIM news 93 (2013): 43–44.

Publisher: ERCIM., Le Chesnay