• tanker accidents, where large amounts of oil are spilled into the sea
• illegal oil discharges by ships during their "normal operations"
• natural oil seepage

For natural and man-made oil spills it is necessary to operate a regular monitoring program. Aerial surveys over large areas (e.g. the Mediterranean Sea) to check for the presence of oil are limited to daylight hours in good weather conditions.

The Mediterranean Sea has extensive marine traffic because it gives maritime access to the Middle East (and the Suez Canal), the Black Sea and Southern Europe. Much of this traffic is oil tankers. The result of this high level of traffic is a high risk of pollution and even ecological disaster, made worse by the fact that the Mediterranean is closed sea so that pollutants cannot be diluted over a larger area by ocean currents.

Oil pollution monitoring in the Mediterranean Sea is normally carried out by aircraft or ships. This is expensive and is constrained by the limited availability of these resources. Satellite imagery can be a significant help in this field, identifying probable spills over very large areas and then guiding aerial surveys for precise observation of specific locations.

The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument, which can collect data independently of weather and light conditions, is an excellent tool to monitor and detect oil on water surfaces. This instrument offers the most effective means of monitoring oil pollution: oil slicks appear as dark patches on SAR images because of the damping effect of the oilfilm to the seawaves. The sea appears less rough in these areas and the backscattering is reduced. Hence such an area would appear darker in a Radar image. This type of instrument is currently on board the European Space Agency's ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat satellites, on the Japanese JERS-1 satellite and on the Canadian RADARSAT satellite.