Post-processing methods for ocean monitoring fro SAR imagery

A number of experiments all over the world have proven that satellite
borne SAR images constitute a valuable tool to monitor oceanic environment, preventing
it from overexploitation or pollution matters and it can also help to evaluate
the full implications of natural or man made hazards. In fact, thanks to their capability
to cover large areas, in all weather conditions, during the day as well as during
the night, spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) techniques constitute an
extremely promising alternative to traditional surveillance methods. Nevertheless,
in order to assure further usability of SAR images, specific data mining tools are still
to be developed to provide an efficient automatic interpretation of SAR data. In the
last years, our group has been studying, analyzing and validating several dedicated
methods for different marine applications: namely, ship detection, extraction of the
coastline and detection and rough classification of pollutants in the sea surface.