Papers

20 results
|
Article Tier 2

Deep-Feature-Based Approach to Marine Debris Classification

This study applied deep learning to classify marine debris from images, demonstrating that feature-based neural network approaches can effectively distinguish plastic types and other debris categories to support automated ocean monitoring.

2021 Applied Sciences 57 citations
Article Tier 2

A Deep Learning Model for Automatic Plastic Mapping Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Data

Researchers applied a deep learning semantic segmentation model (ResUNet50 based on U-Net architecture) to UAV orthophotos to automatically map floating plastic debris, achieving F1-scores of 0.86-0.92 for specific plastic types including oriented polystyrene, nylon, and PET. Classification accuracy decreased with lower spatial resolution, with 4 mm resolution providing optimal performance for distinguishing plastic types.

2020 Remote Sensing 94 citations
Article Tier 2

An Image Analysis of Coastal Debris Detection -Detection of microplastics using deep learning-

Researchers developed a deep learning-based coastal debris detection system using YOLOv7 and the SAHI vision library to identify microplastics in image data collected from shorelines. The system demonstrated effective detection performance and offers a scalable approach for automated monitoring of microplastic litter in coastal environments.

2024 Proceedings of International Conference on Artificial Life and Robotics
Article Tier 2

Enhancing marine debris identification with convolutional neural networks

A deep learning model was developed to identify and classify marine debris components captured by underwater remotely operated vehicle imagery, addressing the challenge of widely distributed ocean waste including microplastics. The convolutional neural network demonstrated improved accuracy for debris detection and classification compared to conventional image analysis methods.

2024 Journal of Emerging Investigators 1 citations
Article Tier 2

On advances, challenges and potentials of remote sensing image analysis in marine debris and suspected plastics monitoring

This review evaluates the current state of satellite and aerial remote sensing for detecting marine plastic debris, noting that while progress has been made using optical and hyperspectral imaging, significant challenges remain including low detection resolution for small particles, confusion with other floating materials, and the need for better machine learning algorithms. The paper is relevant to the microplastics field as large-scale monitoring tools are needed to track plastic pollution distribution and inform cleanup and policy efforts, though direct detection of microplastics (<5 mm) from orbit remains largely out of reach with current technology.

2023 Frontiers in Remote Sensing 9 citations
Article Tier 2

GoogLeNet-Based Deep Learning Framework for Underwater Microplastic Classification in Marine Environments

Researchers trained a GoogLeNet deep learning model on underwater images to classify microplastics into four categories, achieving strong classification performance for primary microplastics, secondary microplastics, non-microplastic debris, and marine biota in turbid coastal waters.

2025
Article Tier 2

Coastal Marine Debris Detection and Density Mapping With Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery

Researchers used high-resolution satellite imagery combined with machine learning to detect and map coastal marine debris density in southern Japan, finding that satellite-based methods can estimate debris amounts and types on beaches with reasonable accuracy.

2022 IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic Waste on Water Surfaces Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Researchers evaluated state-of-the-art convolutional neural network architectures for automatically detecting plastic waste on water surfaces, training models on a dataset representing four categories of plastic litter including plastic bags. The study benchmarked multiple CNN object detection models following extensive dataset preprocessing to determine the most effective approach for automated plastic pollution identification.

2024
Article Tier 2

The supporting role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine/Deep Learning in monitoring the marine environment: a bibliometric analysis

This review examines the supporting role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in monitoring and managing plastic pollution, covering applications in remote sensing, image-based plastic detection, and predictive modeling of plastic fate. The authors identify deep learning for image classification and satellite-based detection as the most rapidly advancing AI applications in plastic pollution science.

2024 Ecological Questions 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Detection and assessment of marine litter in an uninhabited island, Arabian Gulf: A case study with conventional and machine learning approaches

Researchers surveyed marine litter on a remote Arabian Gulf island after a large cleanup, then trained a YOLO-v5 deep learning model on 10,400 beach images to automatically detect debris, achieving 90% detection accuracy and demonstrating that windward shores accumulate significantly more litter from neighboring countries.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Automatic Identification and Classification of Marine Microplastic Pollution Based on Deep Learning and Spectral Imaging Technology

Researchers developed an AI system combining deep learning with multispectral imaging to automatically identify and classify marine microplastics, using a feature-selection method called ReliefF to reduce noise in complex ocean samples. The approach achieved high accuracy and offers a scalable solution for large-scale ocean microplastic monitoring that outperforms traditional manual inspection.

2025 Traitement du signal
Article Tier 2

Computer vision segmentation model—deep learning for categorizing microplastic debris

Researchers developed a deep learning computer vision model for automatically categorizing beached microplastic debris from images. The segmentation model was trained to identify and classify different types of microplastic particles, reducing the need for time-consuming manual counting and laboratory analysis. The study suggests that automated image-based detection could enable more scalable and consistent monitoring of microplastic pollution along coastlines.

2024 Frontiers in Environmental Science 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of Remote Sensing for the Detection and Monitoring of Microplastics in the Coastal Zone of the Colombian Caribbean

Researchers explored using remote sensing technology, including Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and machine learning algorithms, to detect and monitor microplastic pollution along the Colombian Caribbean coast. The study found that combining multispectral satellite data with computational models shows promise for systematic, large-scale monitoring of coastal microplastic contamination in regions where ground-level surveillance remains limited.

2025 Microplastics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Detection of Trash in Sea Using Deep Learning

Researchers developed a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) model to detect and classify trash in marine and aquatic environments from underwater images, aiming to overcome the limitations of manual debris detection for objects that may be submerged or partially obscured.

2022 YMER Digital
Article Tier 2

TECI-YOLO: An Efficient, Lightweight Model for Detecting Small Floating Objects on Water Surfaces

Despite its title referencing floating object detection on water, this paper studies a machine learning model (TECI-YOLO) for detecting small objects on water surfaces using computer vision — not microplastic pollution. It examines improvements in detection accuracy and computational efficiency for real-time marine monitoring and is not directly relevant to microplastics research.

2026 Journal of Computer Science and Frontier Technologies
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Binary Segmentation with Resolution Fusion and Large Convolution Kernels

Researchers developed an improved machine-learning model to automatically detect and segment microplastic particles in images, achieving better accuracy than previous approaches by combining multi-resolution image analysis with large convolution kernels. Reliable automated detection tools are essential for scaling up microplastic monitoring, since manual identification is too slow and inconsistent for the volumes of environmental samples that need to be processed.

2024 Journal of Computing Science and Engineering 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Detection of Microplastics in Coastal Environments Based on Semantic Segmentation

Researchers developed a deep learning semantic segmentation approach for detecting microplastics on sandy beaches at the pixel level, evaluating 12 models including U-Net variants and transformer architectures under real-world conditions.

2025 Preprints.org
Article Tier 2

A Combination of Machine Learning Algorithms for Marine Plastic Litter Detection Exploiting Hyperspectral PRISMA Data

Researchers applied a combination of machine learning algorithms to hyperspectral satellite imagery from the PRISMA satellite to detect marine plastic litter along coastlines and ocean surfaces. The multi-algorithm approach improved detection accuracy over single-model methods and demonstrated the potential for satellite-based monitoring of ocean plastic pollution at scale.

2022 Remote Sensing 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing floating macroplastic detection from space using hyperspectral imagery

Researchers evaluated the use of hyperspectral satellite and airborne imagery to detect floating plastic debris in rivers and oceans, addressing major challenges related to plastic spectral properties in field conditions. Remote sensing tools for plastic detection are important for large-scale monitoring of the macro-scale plastic that eventually becomes microplastics.

2021 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Automatic Detection and Identification of Floating Marine Debris Using Multispectral Satellite Imagery

Researchers developed a machine learning approach using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and extreme gradient boosting to automatically detect and distinguish floating plastic debris from other marine materials like driftwood and seaweed.

2023 IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 43 citations