The usage of radar images in oil spill detection

Discharge of oil including with the tanker accidents have the most dangerous and hazardous effects on marine environment. It is specified that annually more than 4.5 million tons of oil based disposals are poured out to the sea worldwide. The main waste source is the ship based operational discharges with an approximate %45 percentage.The world's %28 petroleum transfer passes through Mediterranean which makes the %50 of all the transfers in Mediterranean as risky and dangerous. Therefore Turkey, with its surrounded coasts and heavy tanker traffic, is under risk of petroleum hazard. An oil spill monitoring and detection system should be used to prevent and interfere immediately.In order to interfere the oil spill, it is important to identify the type, aerial extent, position, (nearest ship position if any), the possibility percentage etc. For this purpose, satellite-based oil pollution monitoring systems are being used to take precautions and even to determine the possible polluter. Today, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites are the main data sources to detect the oil spills discharged into the sea with sufficient accuracies. In this study, the advantages and disadvantages of using different radar images for oil spill detection in Marmara Sea were investigated.