Oil Pollution Monitoring by the Radarsat Constellation Mission Compact Polarimetry

The detection of oil spills in oceans has attracted considerable attention due to their adverse effects on marine ecosystems. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has emerged as a crucial tool for monitoring maritime pollution. Effective oil spill detection via SAR requires a minimal noise floor, extensive coverage, and polarization diversity to improve the identification and discrimination of pollution characteristics. The RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) allows for the acquisition of Hybrid Polarimetric (HP) SAR imagery across all operational imaging modes. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of a comprehensive set of CP features for detecting oil spills, focusing on the incident involving the bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground in July 2020 near the southeastern shores of Mauritius. Two SAR images were obtained over the experimental site using the RCM 16MCP imaging mode. Our results demonstrate that numerous CP features show promising capabilities in distinguishing various concentrations of oil spills.