Remote sensing from space for oil prospecting

Remote sensing from space implies the use of sensors of gravity or of electromagnetic radiations. I will first recall gravity surveys, as that carried out with the satellite GOCE by the European Space Agency but also, on the oceans, the results obtained by using high resolution altimetry. Then, lower frequency microwave radar imaging methodologies will be presented like ESA Biomass, and of the Argentinean and Italian Space Agencies, SAOCOM, in the bands P and L respectively (435 and 1275MHz). The penetration in the vegetation and the upper layers of the terrain (when dry) will allow the study of the Digital Terrain Model under vegetation and even the layout of the water table in desert areas. The use of microwave imaging radars at higher frequencies (band C, 5 GHz with satellites like Sentinel 1 A/B always of ESA, and band X, 10 GHz, with the satellites of the Italian Space Agency (CosmoSkyMed first and second generation), Terrasar X and Tandem X of the German DLR, and finally the Spanish Paz, allow to evaluate ground morphology and soil rugosity, to detect oil spills on sea, and finally to measure accurately millimeter ground motions.