NEW SPACE-BORNE SENSORS FOR OIL SPILL RESPONSE

In the next few years, several new satellite sensors will be launched by various national remote-sensing/earth observation agencies around the globe. It is hoped that these space-borne sensors will provide oil spill response personnel with more than just a synoptic overview of the spill scene. The state-of-the-art capabilities of these new sensors should provide responders with information that can be used in a tactical role as opposed to older-generation sensors that perform a strictly strategic role. Of primary use to spill response coordinators is the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor. The next generation of SAR satellites will have enhanced capabilities when compared to their predecessors. The enhancements include the addition of Polarimetric modes for satellites, including Envisat-1 and RADARSAT-2. RADARSAT-2 will be quad-polarimetric, with resolutions of 8 × 8 m in Polarimetric mode and down to 3 × 3 m in co- or cross-pole modes. The ASAR sensor on Envisat-1 will follow up the successful missions of the European Space Agencies ERS-1, −2 satellites. ASAR will have an alternating polarization mode, and transmit and receive polarization can be selected, thus allowing scenes to be imaged simultaneously in two polarizations. In addition to SAR satellites, several new optical satellites have been or will be launched over the next few years. While optical sensors often are plagued by periods of foul weather that frequently accompany oil spills, some of these sensors will provide valuable information that can be used in conjunction with the radar data in a corroborative fashion. The most useful of the new optical satellites might well be those used to collect data for weather forecasting. This paper will review the operating characteristics and modes of recent and planned satellite sensors, with an eye toward their usefulness for tactical remote sensing of oil spills.