Abstract

The increase in maritime traffic, particularly the transport of hazardous and noxious substances (HNSs), requires advanced methods of identification and characterization in environmental chemical spills. Knowledge about HNS monitoring using radar remote sensing is not as extensive as for oil spills; however, any progress on this issue would likely advance the monitoring of both chemical and oil-related incidents. To address the need for HNS monitoring, an experiment was conducted in May 2015 over the Mediterranean Sea during which controlled releases of HNS were imaged by a multifrequency radar system. The aim of this experiment was to establish a procedure for collecting evidence of illegal maritime pollution by noxious liquid substances using airborne radar sensors. In this paper, we demonstrate the ability of radar imagery to detect and characterize chemicals at sea. A normalized polarization difference parameter is introduced to quantify both the impacts of released product on the ocean surface and the relative concentration of the substance within the spill. We show that radar imagery can provide knowledge of the involved HNS. In particular, one can distinguish a product that forms a film on the top of the sea surface from another that mixes with seawater, the information that is critical for efficient cleanup operations.

Highlights

  • A IRBORNE and spaceborne remote sensing techniques are of great interest for monitoring maritime pollution [1], [2]

  • We discuss the efficiency of multifrequency polarimetric SAR (POLSAR) imagery for hazardous and noxious substances (HNSs)-related maritime pollution monitoring

  • Heptane and toluene were released only 5 and 10 min before acquisitions, and despite the short time lag between discharge and measure, it is likely that evaporation is important enough so that the chemicals are not observed in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

A IRBORNE and spaceborne remote sensing techniques are of great interest for monitoring maritime pollution [1], [2]. Its objectives are to advance the adoption of adequate response measures in the event that an oil pollution incident does occur and to provide for mutual assistance and cooperation between states In addition to this international awareness, previous accidents that have resulted in marine pollution by chemicals have highlighted the need for the use of remote sensing assets to detect various HNS at sea. Our goals in this paper are to better understand the capability of high-resolution multifrequency SAR imagery to detect HNS at sea and the potential of radar remote sensing to relatively quantify the concentration of released product and to distinguish between different substances.

Airborne Radar Imagery
Chemicals Products
Planning of Measurements
Scattering From Ocean Surface
Detection and Relative Quantification
Characterization
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Observation of Hazardous and Noxious Substances at Sea
Detection and Quantification of Impact on the Ocean Surface
CONCLUSION

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