DETECTION OF OIL SPILLS WITH THE SECOND STOKES PARAMETER OF THE HYBIRD POLARIMETRIC SAR

Hybrid-polarimetric SAR (synthetic aperture radar) is a new sensor, with relatively simple architecture, low cost and wide swath, which will be carried by several Earth-observing systems in the near future. Here, we show how the second Stokes parameter of hybrid-polarimetric SAR can be employed to detect oil on the ocean surface, in relation to contributions from different polarizations and dampening effects on backscatter intensity, neglecting the scattering mechanism. The detection methodology is demonstrated to be reliable in two example cases: natural oil seeps from the Gulf of Mexico, and observations from the Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010.