Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery
A method for differentiating marine oil slicks from radar-dark, low-wind areas in open water using rapid-repeat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is reported. The study uses data acquired by the airborne NASA unmanned aerial vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) <italic>L</italic>-band SAR instrumen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2024-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10472046/ |
| _version_ | 1797215116182159360 |
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| author | Cornelius Patrick Quigley A. Malin Johansson Cathleen E. Jones Benjamin Holt |
| author_facet | Cornelius Patrick Quigley A. Malin Johansson Cathleen E. Jones Benjamin Holt |
| author_sort | Cornelius Patrick Quigley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A method for differentiating marine oil slicks from radar-dark, low-wind areas in open water using rapid-repeat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is reported. The study uses data acquired by the airborne NASA unmanned aerial vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) <italic>L</italic>-band SAR instrument, imaging the Coal Oil Point seep field near Santa Barbara, California. Time series of images from three different days are analyzed, all containing both verified oil slicks and low-wind zones. We propose a method to derive high-confidence oil/open water maps by exploiting the differences in spatial and temporal evolution between the low-wind zones and oil slicks over time scales of ∼1–3.5 h. Our method uses the standard deviation of the backscatter intensity for ensembles of colocated SAR pixels and is sufficiently simple and generic to be applied to near-real-time and without special processing code. The derived maps are compared with images of the ocean surface obtained by cameras mounted on a boat surveying the seep field simultaneously with the SAR. The imagery is manually classified into confirmed oil, likely oil, and open water classes. Our results show ∼1–7 dB difference between the SAR-derived mean standard deviation values of the confirmed/likely oil classes compared with the open water class. The minimum number of scenes needed to distinguish between areas of high likelihood of open water and oil slick was determined to be 3–5 scenes, spanning 50–80 min, depending on the spatial extent and persistence of the low-wind zones in the imagery. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:24:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c711abd58b314dcc9581e835d939e756 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1939-1404 2151-1535 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:24:57Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-c711abd58b314dcc9581e835d939e7562024-04-10T23:00:03ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing1939-14042151-15352024-01-01177323734210.1109/JSTARS.2024.337698010472046Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar ImageryCornelius Patrick Quigley0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-296XA. Malin Johansson1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0129-2239Cathleen E. Jones2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2739-1545Benjamin Holt3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4065-3076Department of Physics and Technology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Physics and Technology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, NorwayJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAA method for differentiating marine oil slicks from radar-dark, low-wind areas in open water using rapid-repeat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is reported. The study uses data acquired by the airborne NASA unmanned aerial vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) <italic>L</italic>-band SAR instrument, imaging the Coal Oil Point seep field near Santa Barbara, California. Time series of images from three different days are analyzed, all containing both verified oil slicks and low-wind zones. We propose a method to derive high-confidence oil/open water maps by exploiting the differences in spatial and temporal evolution between the low-wind zones and oil slicks over time scales of ∼1–3.5 h. Our method uses the standard deviation of the backscatter intensity for ensembles of colocated SAR pixels and is sufficiently simple and generic to be applied to near-real-time and without special processing code. The derived maps are compared with images of the ocean surface obtained by cameras mounted on a boat surveying the seep field simultaneously with the SAR. The imagery is manually classified into confirmed oil, likely oil, and open water classes. Our results show ∼1–7 dB difference between the SAR-derived mean standard deviation values of the confirmed/likely oil classes compared with the open water class. The minimum number of scenes needed to distinguish between areas of high likelihood of open water and oil slick was determined to be 3–5 scenes, spanning 50–80 min, depending on the spatial extent and persistence of the low-wind zones in the imagery.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10472046/Look-alikelow windoil spillsynthetic aperture radar (SAR)unmanned aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar (UAVSAR) |
| spellingShingle | Cornelius Patrick Quigley A. Malin Johansson Cathleen E. Jones Benjamin Holt Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing Look-alike low wind oil spill synthetic aperture radar (SAR) unmanned aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar (UAVSAR) |
| title | Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery |
| title_full | Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery |
| title_fullStr | Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery |
| title_short | Distinguishing Mineral Oil Slicks From Low-Wind Areas Using Rapid-Repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery |
| title_sort | distinguishing mineral oil slicks from low wind areas using rapid repeat synthetic aperture radar imagery |
| topic | Look-alike low wind oil spill synthetic aperture radar (SAR) unmanned aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar (UAVSAR) |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10472046/ |
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