Sun Glitter as a "Tool" for Monitoring the Ocean from Space

A method for retrieval of the spatial variations of the sea surface mean square slope (MSS) in sun glitter imagery is proposed. Observed sun glitter brightness anomalies are converted to the MSS anomalies with use of a transfer function determined from the smoothed shape of the sun glitter brightness. The method is applied to MODIS and MERIS sun glitter imagery of natural oil seeps and the catastrophic Deep-water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The results clearly demonstrate a highly feasible approach for investigation of surface signatures of the oil slicks, as well as other ocean phenomena.