Ship detection and tracking
 

Satellite borne SAR instruments can provide an efficient way of detecting ships in the open sea and measuring, through wake and Doppler displacement, their speed and direction. Repeated observation can contribute to a maritime surveillance system, complementing information on routes from coastal radars and shipboard Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). GeoMAP grants unique access to a variety of  SAR satellites: COSMO-SkyMed constellation, RADARSAT-1 & -2, ENVISAT and ERS-2.

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Oil spill
 

Oil damps down capillary waves on the sea surface. The SAR instrument can easily detect oil slicks as areas of lower back-scattered signal, provided that the sea is not too calm or too rough. Applications of oil slick detection encompass disasters (sinking tankers), illegal activities (tank washing) and oil exploration (natural seepage).