Scatterometer use for oil spill measurements

Our results show that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is detectable by ASCAT. We account for low wind speed oil look-alikes by comparing ASCAT measurements against NWP data. The estimated size and shape validates well with NOAA estimates for most of the spill. It is remarkable that a relatively coarse resolution spaceborne radar can map the oil spill - this method would not work as well for smaller oil spills or those spanning a shorter time period. This attests to how large of an impact the Deepwater Horizon oil spill made.