Sea Oil Slick Observation by Means of Fully-polarimetric Alos Palsar Data

A study on sea oil slick observation by means of Lband polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is accomplished. It is based on the different sea surface scattering mechanism expected with and without surface slicks. Polarimetric measurements are processed by means of a simple and very effective filtering technique which is electromagnetically based on the Mueller scattering matrix. Moreover, some polarimetric features, evaluated on both the slick-free and slick-covered sea surface, are analyzed for confirming the filter output. Experiments are accomplished on polarimetric SAR data acquired by the PALSAR sensor, mounted on board of the ALOS satellite, and are relevant to an oil slick, due to a tank accident, and a look-alike. Results demonstrate, for the first time, that L-band polarimetric SAR measurements are useful for oil slick observation purposes and witness the capability of ALOS PALSAR data for such application.