Abstract
Compared with single-polarized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, full polarimetric SAR images contain not only geometrical and backward scattering characteristics, but also the polarization features of the scattering targets. Therefore, the polarimetric SAR has more advantages for oil spill detection on the sea surface. As a crucial step in the oil spill detection, a feature extraction directly influences the accuracy of oil spill discrimination. The polarimetric features of sea oil spills, such as polarimetric entropy, average scatter angle, in the full polarimetric SAR images are analyzed firstly. And a new polarimetric parameter P which reflects the proportion between Bragg and specular scattering signals is proposed. In order to investigate the capability of the polarimetric features for observing an oil spill, systematic comparisons and analyses of the multipolarization features are provided on the basis of the full polarimetric SAR images acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR and Radarsat-2. The experiment results show that in C-band SAR images the oil spills can be detected more easily than in L-band SAR images under low to moderate wind speed conditions. Moreover, it also finds that the new polarimetric parameter is sensitive to the sea surface scattering mechanisms. And the experiment results demonstrate that the new polarimetric parameter and pedestal height perform better than other polarimetric parameters for the oil spill detection in the C-band SAR images.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Brekke C, Solberg A H S. 2005. Oil spill detection by satellite remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ, 95(1): 1–13
Cloude S R, Pottier E. 1996. A review of target decomposition theorems in radar polarimetry. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 34(2): 498–518
Durden S L, Van Zyl J J, Zebker H A. 1990. The unpolarized component in polarimetric radar observations of forested areas. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 28(2): 268–271
Fiscella B, Giancaspro A, Nirchio F, et al. 2000. Oil spill detection using marine SAR images. Int J Remote Sens, 21(18): 3561–3566
Lee J S, Pottier E. 2009. Polarimetric Radar Imaging: from Basics to Applications. Boca Raton: CRC Press
Li Haiyan, Perrie W, He Yijun, et al. 2015. Analysis of the polarimetric SAR scattering properties of oil-covered waters. IEEE J Sel Top Appl Earth Obs Remote Sens, 8(8): 3751–3759
Lombardini P P, Fiscella B, Trivero P, et al. 1989. Modulation of the spectra of short gravity waves by sea surface films: slick detection and characterization with a microwave probe. J Atmos Oceanic Technol, 6(6): 882–890
Migliaccio M, Nunziata F, Buono A. 2015. SAR polarimetry for sea oil slick observation. Int J Remote Sens, 36(12): 3243–3273
Migliaccio M, Nunziata F, Gambardella A. 2009. On the co-polarized phase difference for oil spill observation. Int J Remote Sens, 30(6): 1587–1602
Migliaccio M, Tranfaglia M. 2005. A study on the capability of sar polarimetry to observe oil spills. ESA Special Publication, 586: 25–30
Minchew B, Jones C E, Holt B. 2012. Polarimetric analysis of backscatter from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill using L-band synthetic aperture radar. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 50(10): 3812–3830
Nunziata F, Gambardella A, Migliaccio M. 2013. On the degree of polarization for SAR sea oil slick observation. ISPRS J Photogramm Remote Sens, 78: 41–49
Nunziata F, Migliaccio M, Gambardella A. 2011. Pedestal height for sea oil slick observation. IET Radar, Sonar Navig, 5(2): 103–110
Peli E. 1990. Contrast in complex images. J Opt Soc Am A, 7(10): 2032–2040
Pinel N, Dechamps N, Bourlier C. 2008. Modeling of the bistatic electromagnetic scattering from sea surfaces covered in oil for microwave applications. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 46(2): 385–392
Salberg A B, Rudjord O, Solberg A H S. 2012. Model based oil spill detection using polarimetric SAR. In: Proceedings of 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Munich: IEEE, 5884–5887
Salberg A B, Rudjord O, Solberg A H S. 2014. Oil spill detection in hybrid- polarimetric SAR images. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 52(10): 6521–6533
Schuler D L, Lee J S. 2006. Mapping ocean surface features using biogenic slick-fields and SAR polarimetric decomposition techniques. IEE Proc Radar, Sonar Navig, 153(3): 260–270
Schuler D L, Lee J S, Hoppel K W. 1993. Polarimetric SAR image signatures of the ocean and Gulf Stream features. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 31(6): 1210–1221
Skrunes S, Brekke C, Eltoft T. 2012. Oil spill characterization with multi-polarization C-and X-band SAR. In: Proceedings of 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Munich: IEEE, 5117–5120
Skrunes S, Brekke C, Eltoft T. 2014. Characterization of marine surface slicks by Radarsat-2 multipolarization features. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 52(9): 5302–5319
Solberg A H S, Brekke C, Ove Husoy P. 2007. Oil spill detection in radarsat and envisat SAR images. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 45(3): 746–755
Velotto D, Migliaccio M, Nunziata F, et al. 2011. Dual-polarized TerraSAR-X data for oil-spill observation. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 49(12): 4751–4762
Zhang Biao, Perrie W, Li Xiaofeng, et al. 2011. Mapping sea surface oil slicks using RADARSAT-2 quad-polarization SAR image. Geophys Res Lett, 38(10): L10602
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for providing the SIR-C/X-SAR data used in this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41576170 and 41376179; the Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean (Ocean University of China) under contract No. 2013418025-2.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zheng, H., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y. et al. The polarimetric features of oil spills in full polarimetric synthetic aperture radar images. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 105–114 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1065-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1065-4