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Oil Spill# PDF
Oil Spill# PDF
ENVISAT IMAGES
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Proc. ‘Envisat Symposium 2007’, Montreux, Switzerland
23–27 April 2007 (ESA SP-636, July 2007)
detects dark areas with various brightness values located was used in order to create very small objects capable of
in different sea-state environments. Third, once dark describing every formation in the SAR image. The
areas are identified, they are not isolated from the image broad scale factor was used in order to break off the
but are still considered as parts of its ‘whole’. The ASAR image to large, as uniform as possible, areas.
classification stage is performed using features of the
dark areas but also taking into consideration features of
the surrounding areas. At this stage, dark areas are 8-bit transformation
classified as oil spill or look-alikes, using fuzzy
classification logic. Fourth, the method uses two distinct Filtering
knowledge bases, each one adaptive to a different type
of sea environment. In case of intense image fabric with
local anomalies and/or instantaneous wind stop areas, Segmentation
the mean brightness of the large segment created by the
methodology is reduced and the shape and boundaries Small scale Coarse scale
of dark objects are modified. On the contrary, in a
relatively bright and smooth sea environment, dark Dark area detection
objects present high contrast, are more precisely defined
and their detection is easier.
Object Union
2. METHODOLOGY
Knowledge base I
The methodology developed relies on an object oriented
approach. More detailed presentation can be found at
[13]. The methodology has been developed in the Knowledge base II
eCognition Software environment. The software
introduces a new classification technology called Object-based classification
‘Object Oriented Image Classification’ in which in first
step extracts homogeneous image objects in any chosen
Result
resolution that are subsequently classified by means of
fuzzy logic. The basic strategy is to build up a
hierarchical network of image objects, which allows the Figure 1. Flow diagram of the used methodology
representation of the image information content at
different resolutions (scales) simultaneously. By Dark area detection occurred using a threshold
operating on the relations between networked objects, it algorithm which was implemented in two stages. In the
is possible to classify local context information. The first stage, a formula based on the statistical values of
developed methodology requires six main steps for its super objects was developed and small objects with low
implementation (see figure 1). User imports the original brightness and high contrast values relative to their
ASAR image to a model for the 8-bit transformation surroundings were characterised as dark areas.
and the filtering steps. The model’s outputs (8-bit However, fresh oil spills or broken parts of an oil spill
ASAR image and filtered images) are imported to were not satisfactorily identified. A second formula was
eCognition and without any user contribution result is applied, in which the statistical values of the super
given through a specific protocol which is responsible objects were based on pixels not characterised as dark
for the next steps (segmentation, dark area detection, areas in the first stage. Factors and formulas can be
object union and object classification). found in [13]. All small objects characterized as dark
areas are then grouped in order for statistical features
Transformation from 16 to 8 bit was made using the such as area, shape and texture to be estimated. Object
simple rescale min-max algorithm with the max value to union resulted in the classification of the image into two
be equal with the mean value plus three times the categories: dark objects and rough sea.
standard deviation value (equivalent to 99.73% of the
data distribution). Filtering was done using a specific Based on dark objects, several features can be derived,
combination of a 3x3 Lee filter to the original image, such as mean value, perimeter, complexity, texture, etc.
followed by a 5x5 Lee filter and a 7x7 Local Region The knowledge base which was created from them uses
filter. The combination has been previously used with a fuzzy based logic in order for dark objects to be
success [16]. The three-layer image produced (original classified as oil spills or look-alikes. Thorough analysis
ASAR image, mean filter, combination of Lee and of the sea environment has shown that discrimination
Local Region filters) was used for image segmentation. between oil spills and look-alikes is unsatisfactory when
Segmentation occurred at two different scales: a very a single base is used. Therefore two knowledge bases,
detailed and a very broad scale. The detailed scale factor depending on the brightness of the super object, i.e. the
sea state, were developed. They include the same Red colour presents the oil spills detected, light blue
features but use different rules for the characterization look-alikes, and blue the sea.
of oil spills.
3. DATASET
The methodology developed has been applied on a
dataset of four ENVISAT ASAR medium resolution
images. The dataset contains several sea states and all
images contain a certain number of dark objects. Two of
the images contain at least one oil spill, while the other
two contain only look-alike features. For illustration
reasons the implementation of the methodology is
presented on two ASAR images: the first one (Figure 2)
captured on 28/7/2006 (orbit 23050, frame 2242) and
the second one (Figure 3) captured on 21/7/2006 (orbit
22950, frame 1464). The two images present different
sea states and contain oil spills and look-alikes. Figure 2. ENVISAT ASAR medium resolution image
Moreover, each image presents a spatial sea-state containing oil spills and the classification result
variation. The images have been thoroughly analyzed by
three different experts using visual photo-interpretation From figure 2, describing the results on the ASAR
techniques. The first image presents a rough sea surface, image with the oils spills, it can be seen that the four old
efficient to produce a strong contrast signal in the oils spills in the left part were successfully detected.
presence of oil spills. It contains four old oil spills in the Figure 4 focuses on the bigger oil spill in the left part of
left part and a fresh oil spill in the right part. It also the image. On the contrary the fresh oil spill at the right
contains a look-alike on the left part, very close to land. part of the image in figure 2 was not detected. The
Sea state is ideal for oil spill detection, as wind speed is failure occurred at the dark detection phase. The method
estimated 3.4 m/sec. The second image contains very successfully separated the image in four big segments
complicated features. Wind speed varies from 0 m/sec but the difference of the small segments, describing the
to 4 m/sec, making oil spill detection a rather difficult fresh spill, from their bigger segment was not enough in
task. The image contains several look-alikes towards the order to detect the dark object. Therefore there was no
area next to the land. object describing the fresh spill in the stage of
classification. The backscattering values of the fresh
spill are not into the limits derived from the fresh spills
4. RESULTS
which were previously examined on ERS PRI scenes.
The result of the analysis for the above mentioned
ENVISAT ASAR images are presented in figures 2-5. Figure 3 illustrates the result of the analysis of the
second image which contains only look-alikes. Here the
classification method worked successfully as all the are not the same in high and medium resolution scenes,
dark features were correctly classified as look-alikes. In therefore a specific study is required to adapt them in
figure 5 a more detailed example is given for a look- each resolution.
alike which is located in the upper left part of figure 3.
The proposed methodology yields two main advantages.
First, its results are not affected by sea state conditions
and second, the method is independent of the original
ASAR data quality (sensor calibration status, speckle,
atmospheric conditions etc). Moreover, dark objects are
not isolated from the image and therefore neighbouring
rules can be used for classification phase. The
importance of the last point can be seen from figures 4
and 5. Even an expert can not distinguish the oil spill
from look-alike when only these parts of the images are
examined. On the contrary, analysis is much easier
when consideration is taken for the neighbouring
features.