NOAA is responsible for monitoring coastal US waters for accidental and deliberate oil spills as well as for the emergency response and environmental assessment and restoration following such events

In addition in the aftermath of severe storms NOAA assesses the status of and potential damage to offshore platforms and pipelines which are potential sources of significant oil leaks and marine debris. All-weather and high-resolution data from the enlarging set of spaceborne synthetic aperture radars (sars) and highresolution optical satellites offer an important opportunity for NOAA to exploit remote sensing for automated oil spill response and remediation and post-storm offshore infrastructure assessment. Our work supports the hurricane/tropical cyclone primary hazard scenario with cascading risks focusing on semi-automated oil spill characterization that can direct response to areas with more oil; health status assessment of offshore platforms especially small unmanned ones; and identification of marine debris. Marine technological hazards are also addressed. The specific objectives of this proposal are to: 1. Develop and mature automated oil spill detection and thickness estimates from SAR and optical imagery based on focused field testing combined with in situ oil sampling and incorporate new sensors (nisar radarsat constellation etc.) over the course of the project. 2. Improve post-storm assessment of offshore oil and gas production facilities and marine debris. 3. Implement these new algorithms and databases in a semi-automatic system that NOAA uses operationally to detect and assess oil spills and post-storm offshore damage and debris. These products will be delivered through NOAA to enable rapid situational assessment and an optimized deployment of rescue and oil remediation and recovery resources. Multi-polarization SAR imagery is becoming increasingly available during the performance period of the proposed work providing open data and more frequent coastal ocean imaging. For operational use the data must be rapidly processed into products delivered to analysts first responders and people planning recovery and restoration efforts. IT is critical that NOAA develop a validated assessment of the capabilities of the newer high-resolution sensors under different environmental conditions and for different oil properties in order to use them operationally for oil spill remediation. Combined oil extent and thickness products using all available data both SAR and optical imagery can provide significant improvements in both latency and reliability. For post-storm assessment of the marine environment there is also a need for a validated detection database of offshore platforms as a function of wind speed and sensor mode and type to support existing algorithms for the detection of offshore platforms and ships from remote sensing data. In a post-storm environment this database will be used to assess whether the platform has actually moved or been destroyed or is simply undetectable in the given meteorological conditions. Similar well-understood relationships are needed between marine debris object size and detectability. This proposal team is composed of remote sensing researchers from NOAA academia the jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) and private industry. Three elements of NOAA focused on creating new remote sensing products offshore oil spill monitoring and postevent response and recovery propose to team with staff from JPL experienced in uavsar oil spill field testing and analysis and from water mapping INC. Experienced in satellite SAR oil observation. An international partner from MDA enables access to and tasking of radarsat-2 and RCM. An international partner from UIT the arctic university of norway will be liaison for a norwegian field validation campaign.