Radar Imagery of Oil Slicks

A joint agency controlled oil slick experiment, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, was conducted in the Pacific Ocean in the Fall of 1970. The Naval Research Laboratory's synthetic aperature radar was used to detect and monitor the slicks at frequencies of 428, 1228, 4455, and 8910 MHz during the low sea state conditions encountered. At frequencies of 1228 MHz and higher, the slicks were depicted with sharp boundaries. At 428 MHz, the boundaries were indistinct. Approximately 400 liters of oil was detected as it was being discharged from the generating ship and larger spills were mapped from the initial thickness to equilibrium thicknesses of 1 micron or less. Thin streamers of oil and wind blown films were also imaged. Area growth rates were obtained for 2500 liter spills of API 26.1 crude oil and API 9.7 fuel oil on a calm sea. The respective rates, from approximately 1 to 4 hours after the spills, were 134 m2/s and 16 m2/s.