Oil-spill monitoring using microwave radiometer

The Marine Environment Pollution Monitoring (MEPM) program has been carried out to demonstrate the capability of microwave radiometers for the remote sensing of oil spills. An airborne microwave radiometer (AMR-OS) and a ship-based K-band radiometer were used to detect oil spills and to estimate oil volume. Also the coordinate sea-surface measurement on HJ-69 experiment-ship were made to acquire relative oil physical characters. This paper describes the brief characters of AMR-OS and presents the relationships between frequency and thickness, brightness temperature and thickness. The experiment results indicate that microwave radiometry is an effective tool for monitoring oil spill pollution, especially under cloud cover conditions. Image resolution must be improved for meeting the requirements of practical use.