Author(s)

W. Biamino, F. Tataranni, M. Borasi, C. De Vecchi & P. Trivero

Abstract

In recent decades, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been increasingly used as a powerful tool for sea surface monitoring thanks to its peculiar features (all weather, day and night monitoring). Among possible applications, SAR is widely used for oil spill detection and tracking on the sea surface because of its capabilities to evidence the wave damping induced by surface active slicks; it is also possible to measure natural phenomena such as wind stress or surface currents. In recent years we have developed and tested algorithms for automatic oil spill detection and wind extraction from ERS and ENVISAT images. In this paper we first resume our experience, showing the present status and planned advances. We also show some examples of operational applications, done in the framework of national and international projects. A special attention is paid to InterRisk project, where an open system architecture, based on noted GIS and web standards, has been set up in order to integrate and harmonise different kind of data (satellite, in-situ, model simulations) from different service providers in order to allow users an easy and effective access to the information needed. Keywords: oil slicks, Synthetic Aperture Radar, GIS, web service. 1 Introduction For several years remote sensing has been widely used for land and sea surface observation. Optical sensors are well tested tools to monitor land use, vegetation

Keywords

oil slicks, Synthetic Aperture Radar, GIS, web service.