OIL-SPILL DETECTION USING SATELLITE BASED SAR - EXPERIENCE FROM A FIELD EXPERIMENT

During the commissioning phase of the ERS-1, C-band, synthetic apertur e radar (SAR) images were obtained regularly over international waters for a range of operational, real-time uses. Among other capabilities, SAR is expected to be able to detect oil slicks on the sea surface. A project was defined with the aim of developing and demonstrating a sy stem for early oil spill detection using satellite based SAR. During t he Dedicated Oil Spill Experiment August 1991 (DOSE-91) three slicks, each 20 metric tons of stabilized crude oil, were released in phase wi th the passages of the ERS-1 satellite. The experiment included sea tr uthing, oil slick tracking using drifting buoys, and aircraft surveill ance using various remote sensing techniques to compare and verify sat ellite observations. This paper presents the observations gathered dur ing the experiment with emphasis on the SAR imagery of oil slicks unde r certain environmental conditions. Image enhancement techniques used to process the imagery are also discussed.