An analysis of the polarimetric scattering properties of oil spills on the ocean surface with hybrid polarimetry SAR

An analysis of the polarimetric scattering properties of oil-covered waters is conducted using the classic Poincaré ellipticity parameter chi (χ) from the Stokes parameters of hybrid polarized mode Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). For natural oil seeps, χ has a change in signs, comparing oil-covered waters with the `clean´ ocean surface. The χ sign reversal is basic to sign difference oil spill detection methods. However, a problem is that oil spills related to the Deep Water Horizon (DWH) disaster did not exhibit a reversal in χ signs, when `clean´ ocean surfaces are compared to the area contaminated by crude oil. Therefore, the scattering mechanism related to the oil seeps is different from that of the DWH oil spill; the former is dominated with even bounce scattering and the latter is dominated by Bragg scattering, similar to that of the clean oil-free ocean surface.