Publications Details

A comparative evaluation of SAR and SLAR

Mastin, G.A.; Manson, J.J.; Bradley, J.D.; Axline, R.M.; Hover, G.L.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was evaluated as a potential technological improvement over the Coast Guard`s existing side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) for oil-spill surveillance applications. The US Coast Guard Research and Development Center (R&D Center), Environmental Branch, sponsored a joint experiment including the US Coast Guard, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Naval Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hazardous Materials Division. Radar imaging missions were flown on six days over the coastal waters off Santa Barbara, CA, where there are constant natural seeps of oil. Both the Coast Guard SLAR and the Sandia National Laboratories SAR were employed to acquire simultaneous images of oil slicks and other natural sea surface features that impact oil-spill interpretation. Surface truth and other environmental data were also recorded during the experiment. The experiment data were processed at Sandia National Laboratories and delivered to the R&D Center on a computer workstation for analysis by experiment participants. Issues such as optimal spatial resolution, single-look vs. multi-look SAR imaging, and the utility of SAR for oil-spill analysis were addressed. Finally, conceptual design requirements for a possible future Coast Guard SAR were outlined and evaluated.