X-band two-scale sea surface scattering model to predict the contrast due to an oil slick
Montuori, A.; Nunziata, F.; Migliaccio, M.; Sobieski, P. (2016). X-band two-scale sea surface scattering model to predict the contrast due to an oil slick. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Observ. Remote Sens. 9(11): 4970-4978. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2016.2605151
In: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. IEEE: Piscataway. ISSN 1939-1404; e-ISSN 2151-1535, more
In this study, a sea/oil contrast model, based on the two-scale sea surface scattering Boundary Perturbation Model and an improved Marangoni damping model, is exploited to predict the X-band contrast due to an oil slick. Theoretical predictions are then compared with actual X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements collected by COSMO-SkyMed and TerraSAR-X satellites over the polluted area off the Aberdeen coast (United Kingdom) during the Gannet Alpha oil spillage occurred in 2011. The contrast model is here verified at X-band for the first time and exploited in a very challenging scenario, i.e., when an oil slick is in place. In addition, a detailed analysis on the effect of sensor's noise equivalent sigma zero (NESZ) on the predicted and measured contrast is undertaken. Experimental results confirm model predictions, witnessing a remarkable agreement between predicted and measured contrasts. Moreover, they demonstrate that NESZ significantly affects the information content of the signal backscattered off the oil-covered area.
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