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The Detection and Tracking of Ocean Surface Roughness Supression by Ocean Pollutans Via Surfactants
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Researchers investigated how ocean pollutants and surfactants suppress ocean surface roughness and demonstrated that GNSS-R satellites can detect these anomalies as apparent errors in wind speed estimation. By combining GNSS-R data with hyperspectral imagery and other satellite products, the study shows it is possible to distinguish between different pollutant types and generate individual pollutant maps.
GNSS-R satellites can be used to track ocean surface wind speed and roughness via their direct measurement of radar cross section. However, if an agent were to change ocean surface roughness without changing the wind speed there would be an error in the estimated wind speed. This study posits that some of these errors are caused by ocean pollutants and related surfactants. Surfactants are soaps and oils that decrease local ocean surface tension, and therefore suppress the wind driven roughening of the surface. This paper demonstrates how GNSS-R satellites with the aid of hyperspectral imagers and other satellite products can discern the difference between various ocean pollutants. The decomposition of different roughness suppression agents allows for individual pollutant maps to be generated, which will aid our understanding of ocean microplastic distributions, as there is currently no other reliable and effective method for their detection and tracking.
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This study examined how microplastics and surfactants on the ocean surface affect surface wave roughness, which underpins remote sensing methods for detecting oceanic plastic pollution from satellites. The findings help explain the physical basis for measurable surface roughness reductions in microplastic-covered areas.
Effects of microplastics and surfactants on surface roughness of water waves
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This study investigated how microplastics and surfactants affect the surface roughness of ocean waves, with implications for remote sensing detection of marine plastic pollution. The findings show that plastic films reduce wave surface texture in ways that can be detected from satellites, offering a potential large-scale monitoring tool.
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Researchers reviewed how GPS and satellite navigation signals reflected off Earth's surface (GNSS-Reflectometry) can measure ocean conditions, soil moisture, ice thickness, and other environmental variables — and highlighted emerging uses including detecting microplastics on the ocean surface from space.
GNSS-R Observations of Marine Plastic Litter in a Water Flume: An Experimental Study
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Researchers conducted controlled water flume experiments to test GNSS-Reflectometry for detecting marine plastic litter, finding that while reflected power changes were unreliable, statistical analysis of short-integration-time reflectivity measurements could detect large accumulations of wave-dampening debris like nets and bags.
Toward the Detection and Imaging of Ocean Microplastics With a Spaceborne Radar
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Researchers assessed the feasibility of detecting ocean microplastics using spaceborne synthetic aperture radar, finding that radar signatures of microplastic-concentrated surface films may be detectable under certain wind and sea-state conditions.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.