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Use of X-Band Radars to Monitor Small Garbage Islands
Summary
Researchers tested whether X-band marine radar systems can detect and track floating clusters of plastic debris at sea. Controlled experiments showed the technology can identify small garbage islands, opening a new tool for monitoring ocean plastic pollution.
The aim of this work is to verify and demonstrate the possibility of using X-band radars to identify, discriminate, characterize and follow small floating aggregations of marine litter (Small Garbage Islands—SGIs) made up mainly of plastic debris. To this end, a radar measurement campaign was carried out on a series of controlled releases into the sea of SGI modules assembled in the lab using the waste collected along a beach near the port of Livorno, in Tuscany, where the X-band radar of the Institute of Bioeconomy (IBE) of the National Research Council (CNR) is installed. The results of this first measurement campaign, which are illustrated in this preliminary work, are of interest to the entire scientific community that operates in the field of macroplastics analysis and monitoring, opening a new experimental avenue for the use of X-band radars also to monitor plastic waste at sea. Furthermore, the results obtained suggest good prospects for the use of X-band radars also for the study of coastal hydrodynamics on a local scale as well as in areas where it would be difficult to carry out measurements employing other technologies.