European Journal of Remote Sensing (Dec 2023)

Geochemical analysis of SAR backscattering (Sentinel-1) on global ocean oil spill cases

  • José Milton Neves de Souza Júnior,
  • Luís Felipe Ferreira de Mendonça,
  • Heverton da Silva Costa,
  • Juliana Costi,
  • Rodrigo Nogueira Vasconcelos,
  • André Telles da Cunha Lima,
  • Sidnei João Siqueira Sant’anna,
  • José Marques Lopes,
  • Milton José Porsani,
  • de José Vivas Garica Miranda,
  • Carlos Alessandre Domingos Lentini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2023.2256959
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 56, no. 1

Abstract

Read online

ABSTRACT The oil spill is one of the most impactful sources of marine pollution on the ocean surface, detected by the SAR sensors as dark areas, regions with low backscatter values. Due to the complex mixture of hydrophobic hydrocarbons, mineral oil spills change the water surface tension dampening the capillary gravity waves and provoking a specular reflection. In this work, we associated the geochemical oil characteristics, such as density, viscosity, API, and molecular composition with the backscatter values for each oil spill case. We identified the relationship between the oil weathering processes, with the changes in the backscattering values of ocean oil spills. The method designed zonal sections over the oil spills detected in the SAR images, to extract the backscatter values for each pixel along the section. The lowest backscatter average was observed by the heavy oil spill in the Corsica Island study (−29,99 dB). The highest level of weathering had the highest backscatter averages. Damping rates ranged between 4,12 and 7,07 dB and the backscatter values may be related to low oil layer thickness. Furthermore, low wind speeds may have reduced the contrast between water and oil spills, resulting in low damping ratios in all events.

Keywords