Spaceborne SAR Small Boat Detection Campaign in Portugal and Spain

The European maritime area is one of Europe’s most important assets with regard to resources, security and ultimately prosperity of the Member States. A significant part of Europe’s economy relies directly or indirectly on it. It is not just the shipping or fisheries industries and their related activities. It is also shipbuilding and ports, marine equipment and offshore energy, maritime and coastal tourism, aquaculture, submarine telecommunications, blue biotech and the protection of the marine environment. The European maritime area faces several risks and threats posed by unlawful activities, such as drugs trafficking, smuggling, illegal immigration, organised crime and terrorism. Piracy in international waters also constitutes a threat to Europe since it can disrupt the maritime transport chain. These risks and threats can endanger human lives, marine resources and the environment, as well as significantly disrupt the transport chain and global and local security. It is anticipated that these risks and threats will endure in the mid and long run. In order to keep Europe as a world leader in the global maritime economy, an effective integrated/interoperable, sustainable maritime surveillance system and situational awareness are needed. A significant number of unlawful maritime activities, such as illegal immigration, drugs trafficking, smuggling, piracy and terrorism involve mainly small boats, because small boats are faster and more difficult to detect using conventional means. Hence, it is very important to find out the feasibility of using SAR Satellite images for small boat detection. Since 2008 the EC-JRC has carried out a number of SAR Small Boat detection experiments to assess the feasibility of using Spaceborne SAR for Small Boat detection. This report presents the results and conclusions of the Spaceborne SAR Small Boat detection campaign in inland sea waters and in coastal waters carried out by the EC-JRC in the South of Spain (Sancti Petri-La Barossa, El Rompido, Punta Umbria, Cadiz and Isla Cristina) and in Portugal (Sagres and Cascais) in December 2010. The results of the experiment show that under suitable conditions of sea state, wind speed and incidence angle it is possible to detect small boats in spaceborne SAR imagery in inland waters, Coastal waters and open sea. Further research is needed to study possible correlations between the empirical probability of detection of small boats in spaceborne SAR and the main parameters involved, such as sea state, wind speed, incidence angle, among others.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair