Oil spill detection and classification through deep learning and tailored data augmentation

Oil spill detection is an important task for protecting and minimizing the harmful effects of oil on the marine ecosystem. Currently, the application of images from unmanned aerial vehicles, along with deep learning, is widely employed. Although these methods have yielded good results, the issue of oil spill classification based on these methods has not received much attention at present. In this research, a deep learning model with a dual attention mechanism consisting of two modules was utilized. The first module focuses on capturing the spatial relationships between each pixel and the entire image, the second module identifies the characteristics between channels in the image, thereby enhancing the ability to detect and classify oil. Additionally, a data augmentation technique based on the Generative Adversarial Networks model was refined and employed to improve the model's accuracy. Experimental results, obtained through comparisons between dataset construction methods, the use of different encoders and decoders, and adjustments hyperparameters, reveal that the best model achieves a mean Intersection over Union by 72.49%. Data augmentation techniques also contribute to a 2.56% increase in mean Intersection over Union. The findings of this research provide a feasible solution not only for detecting but also for classifying oil spills, thereby assisting marine environmental managers in making timely decisions to respond to oil spill accidents.