Assessment of Simulated Compact Polarimetry of the RCM Medium Resolution sar Modes for Oil Spill Detection

Operational detection and discrimination of oil spills over oceans has received considerable attention due to its impact on marine ecosystem from environmental and political points of view. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a valuable instrument for maritime pollution monitoring. The three main requirements for effective operational oil spill detection using SAR are: 1) low noise floor, 2) large area coverage, and 3) maximizing detection and discrimination of pollution and ‘lookalike’ features, by polarization diversity, multiple frequency, etc. In order to reconcile the advantages of fully polarimetric SAR with larger area coverage, compact polarimetry (CP) acquisitions offer a trade-off between the above mentioned requirements. The future Canadian RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) will enable the acquisition of CP SAR data in wide swath imagery, including ScanSAR modes. In this study, we investigate the potential of CP from three RCM SAR modes for oil spill detection. Results indicate that the RCM MR30 SAR mode has promising oil spill detection performance.