The Taylor Energy Oil Spill: Time-series of PolSAR Data to Support Continuous and Effective Observation

• Main Author: Andrea BUONO,Carina Regina De MACEDO,Ferdinando NUNZIATA,Domenico VELOTTO,Xiaofeng LI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Surveying and Mapping Press 2021-03-01
• Series: Journal of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science
• Subjects: |sar|polarimetry|cpd|taylor energy|oil spill
• Online Access: http://jggs.sinomaps.com/fileup/2096-5990/PDF/1617703745001-900106581.pdf

In this study, a large time series of TerraSAR-X Stripmap co-polarized (HH-VV) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery collected over the Taylor Energy oil platform site in the Gulf of Mexico is exploited to investigate this 13 year-long unconventional oil spill. The σCPD approach is used to estimate the polluted area along time. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is undertaken to point out the dependence of σCPD to imaging (noise floor, incidence angle) and environment (sea state) parameters. Experimental results demonstrate that σCPD can be effectively used to monitor the Taylor Energy oil spill, estimating the polluted area. For the TSX SAR data avail-ability most dense period (year 2013), a daily spill of about 2.2km2 is observed in average, even though high variability (about 2.0km2) is experienced due to the un-conventional characteristics of the spill.