The damping ratio is a calculated feature that measures the contrast between oil-slicked water and the open ocean in SAR data. To implement the damping ratio, the current literature suggests estimating the open water backscatter by taking strips of undefined width across the range direction, obtaining the damping ratio as a function of incidence angle. We show in this paper that the method proposed ...

We compare in-situ water volume measurements of mineral oil emulsion sampled from an oil slick in Santa Barbara, California, to acquisitions of airborne UAVSAR data acquired in June 2022. Estimating the water-to-oil fraction using the UAVSAR imagery, we find that low SNR in the co- and cross-polarimetric channels limits this capability above a certain oil-to-water volumetric threshold. Higher SNR ...

The objective of this paper is to investigate the dependency of oil spill observations in polarimetric SAR data on imaging geometry, i.e., on incidence angle and look direction relative to the wind. The study is based on quad-polarization data acquired by the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar over experimental oil slicks under relatively high winds of 10–12 m/s over an 8-hour period. ...

The damping ratio has recently been used to indicate the relative internal oil thickness within oil slicks observed in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. However, there exists no well-defined and evaluated methodology for calculating the damping ratio. In this study, we review prior work regarding the damping ratio and outline its theoretical and practical aspects. We show that the most often ...

This chapter addresses the physical mechanisms behind SAR imaging of oil spills in the open ocean and proceeds with a discussion on the emerging SAR information retrieval techniques for detecting and characterizing these slicks. Section 9.1 covers oil spill information items possibly derived from SAR and limitations of existing methods. Challenges and trade-offs faced by operational service providers ...