An approach for tracking oil slicks by using active contours on satellite images

This paper describes a process for achieving oil spill detection in satellite images acquired after tanker accidents. These images have been treated with image processing techniques, such us image equalization, image binarization and morphological operations, to obtain the residue segmentation. Once the oil slick is segmented and localized in the image, an active contour is generated around it and fitted to it. The active contour provides useful information about the shape and localization of the oil spill, even providing an estimation of the deformation and the displacement that it could suffer over the time. This information could allow the evolution of residues dumped at sea to be tracked. The validity of this process is demonstrated using several ENVISAT-ASAR images acquired over several regions (Spanish, Philippine and Korean coasts), in which a tanker accident has occurred and as a consequence oil spillage has taken place.