Oil Spill Monitoring and Damage Assessment via PolSAR Measurements

Abstract

This study aims at describing the key role played by polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (polSAR) remotely sensed measurements for oil spill analyses. PolSAR measurements are shown to be useful to the interested user (e.g. local authorities, oil companies, etc.) to effectively manage three different services: surveillance (i.e. detecting illegal oil spills), remediation (i.e. providing in depth information on the spilled oil) and exploration (i.e. detecting oil seeps). Case studies, undertaken on actual polSAR data, are shown to demonstrate the proposed rationale.