Oil Spill Detection Performance in a Multitype Polarimetric-Feature Space Using a Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar: A Comparative Analysis

Marine oil spills severely threaten marine ecosystems, the coastal economy, and marine engineering structures. Because it enables all-weather and all-time acquisition of rich target information, fully polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (FP SAR) is widely used for monitoring marine oil spills. However, the differences in the scattering characteristics among oil types can cause variability in the information contained in the features extracted using FP SAR. Herein, RADARSAT-2 images obtained from a rare oil-on-water experiment conducted in the Norwegian North Sea were used to compare the distribution differences in polarimetric features based on the oil slick type and incident angle. Results showed that the incident angle exerted some influence on polarimetric features and the detection performance for oil spills with a low oil–water contrast, particularly at large incident angles. The polarimetric features related to scattering mechanisms exhibited good robustness and effectiveness across various incident angles. The polarimetric feature that combines the scattering entropy H and modified anisotropy A12 exhibited strong overall performance and high suitability for extracting information on oil spills at different incident angles. This study demonstrates that incorporating appropriate polarimetric features according to the incident angle enables the identification of different oil slick types and facilitates oil spill detection and monitoring.