Optical characteristics of oil spill based on polarization scattering rate

Appl Opt. 2020 Feb 1;59(4):1193-1197. doi: 10.1364/AO.383418.

Abstract

As a new analytical method for identifying marine oil slicks, the primary function of the polarization scattering model is to determine the intensity of polarized scattered light from different oil spill zones. In the polarized light path, the energy reduction is mainly due to the scattering characteristics of the surface of the sample to be tested. To quantify equivalence, we define the polarized scattering rate (PSR). The PSR describes the probability that linearly polarized incident photons scatter into the unit solid angle in the direction of scattering from the target surface. In order to verify the applicability of the model, we applied it to detect an actual oil spill at sea in the case of simulated sunlight. The research indicates that the PSR only characterizes the amplitude conversion between the polarized scattering wave and the incident wave and is not affected by the polarization characteristics of the incident wave, thus reflecting the true polarization characteristics of the target itself. The PSR of crude oil and seawater depends not only on the physical properties of the target itself, but also on the observation conditions, such as relative attitude orientation, spatial geometric position relationship, and the working frequency of equipment and instruments.