Satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a unique tool to collect measurements over sea surface but the physical interpretation of such data is not always straightforward. Among the different sea targets of interest, low-backscattering areas are often associated to marine oil pollution even if several physical phenomena may also result in low-backscattering patches at sea. In this study, the effects of low-backscattering areas of anthropogenic and natural origin on the azimuth autocorrelation function (AACF) are analyzed using VV-polarized SAR measurements. Two objective metrics are introduced to quantify the deviation of the AACF evaluated over low-backscattering areas with reference to slick-free sea surface. Experiments, undertaken on six Sentinel-1 SAR scenes, collected in Interferometric Wide Swath VV+VH imaging mode over large low-backscattering areas of different origin under low-to-moderate wind conditions (speed ≤ 7 m/s), spanning a wide range of incidence angles (from about 30◦ up to 46◦ ), demonstrated that the AACF evaluated within low-backscattering sea areas remarkably deviates from the slick-free sea surface one and the largest deviation is observed over oil slicks.

A sensitivity analysis on the spectral signatures of low-backscattering sea areas in sentinel-1 sar images

Corcione V.;Buono A.;Nunziata F.;Migliaccio M.
2021-01-01

Abstract

Satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a unique tool to collect measurements over sea surface but the physical interpretation of such data is not always straightforward. Among the different sea targets of interest, low-backscattering areas are often associated to marine oil pollution even if several physical phenomena may also result in low-backscattering patches at sea. In this study, the effects of low-backscattering areas of anthropogenic and natural origin on the azimuth autocorrelation function (AACF) are analyzed using VV-polarized SAR measurements. Two objective metrics are introduced to quantify the deviation of the AACF evaluated over low-backscattering areas with reference to slick-free sea surface. Experiments, undertaken on six Sentinel-1 SAR scenes, collected in Interferometric Wide Swath VV+VH imaging mode over large low-backscattering areas of different origin under low-to-moderate wind conditions (speed ≤ 7 m/s), spanning a wide range of incidence angles (from about 30◦ up to 46◦ ), demonstrated that the AACF evaluated within low-backscattering sea areas remarkably deviates from the slick-free sea surface one and the largest deviation is observed over oil slicks.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11367/110356
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 19
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 14
social impact