Validation of an automatic system to detect oil spills in X- and L-band SAR images

Satellite-borne SAR is used for sea surface observation and extraction of meteo-marine features as well as detection of oil slicks. In this paper we want to describe the activity based on the detection algorithm we developed in previous activities, able to identify oil spills in an automatic routinely way, as well as to evaluate detection reliability with a percentage value. Starting from that previous algorithm we developed for ERS and Envisat data, we extended its capabilities by identifying suitable radiometric parameters for L- and X-band data products. We tested our procedure on L- and X-band SAR images with the aim to assess their effectiveness in discriminating verified oil slicks found on sea surface.