Wow, great insider info on identifying hydrocarbon leaks from ultraviolet photography... thanks NASA and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists!

When the Patrick Draw field was overflown by an airborne UV sensor, this map of fluorescence anomalies was constructed; these results seem to confirm detectability of hydrocarbon-related gases at or above surfaces where leakage of the gases occurs: [shown above]

Two discoveries stemming from the Geosat study of Patrick Draw are significant: 1) a map of lineaments shows microseeps at several intersections, and 2) there is a distinct geobotanical anomaly in and near Patrick Draw - sage plants are damaged, presumably by escaping hydrocarbons, and this is detectable in hyperspectral imagery. Unfortunately, key illustrations supporting this have not been made public.

Full text: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect5/Sect5_5.html

This includes some real gems and photos of the Alberta Oil Sands extraction sites.