Monitoring Oil spill with SAR

SETHI

SAR image collected by SETHI from ONERA. ref

Space and airborne remote sensing systems are the main means of maritime surveillance. They are operated by governments or companies and are responsible for detecting oil slicks at sea. This mission remains crucial in order to best manage environmental accidents. Currently, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is the main way to carry out this mission as it provides a 24/7 service and is unaffected by weather conditions. In such a context, polarimetric data and multi-frequency acquisitions are crucial as they allow rapid and reliable detection and characterization of the oil layer.