Dual-Polarized TerraSAR-X Data for Oil-Spill Observation

A study exploiting dual-polarimetric X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to observe oil at sea is undertaken for the first time. The polarimetric model exploits the interchannel correlation between the like polarized channels. Accordingly, two parameters related to the interchannel correlation, namely, the amplitude coherence and the copolarized phase difference (CPD) standard deviation, are accounted for, and their performances, with respect to sea oil slick observation, are carefully discussed. Single-look Slant range Complex dual-polarized TerraSAR-X SAR data, in which both certified oil slicks and weak-damping look-alikes are present, are used to verify the efficiency of the proposed approaches. Results show the advantage of the CPD approach and the effectiveness of TerraSAR-X dual-polarized products for such application.