Papers

61,005 results
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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

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
Article Tier 2

Towards Detecting Floating Objects on a Global Scale with Learned Spatial Features Using Sentinel 2

Researchers developed a machine learning approach using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to detect floating plastic debris and marine litter on a global scale, demonstrating that learned spatial features can improve detection of large aggregations of floating objects on water surfaces.

2021 ISPRS annals of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences 28 citations
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 of Waste Plastics in the Environment: Application of Copernicus Earth Observation data

Researchers used free Copernicus Earth observation satellite data and machine learning to detect waste plastic in marine and terrestrial environments at a large scale. The classifier was trained on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data and performed well for detecting larger plastic accumulations. Satellite-based detection could enable continuous, wide-area monitoring of plastic pollution at a fraction of the cost of ground surveys.

2022 Preprints.org 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Large-scale detection of marine debris in coastal areas with Sentinel-2

Researchers built a deep learning model to detect floating marine debris in coastal areas using satellite imagery from the Sentinel-2 program. The system achieved strong detection accuracy across multiple test sites and can monitor large stretches of coastline regularly. The tool could help environmental agencies track and respond to marine plastic pollution at a scale that manual surveys cannot match.

2023 iScience 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Detection of Waste Plastics in the Environment: Application of Copernicus Earth Observation Data

Researchers developed a machine learning classifier using free Copernicus satellite data to detect plastic waste — including greenhouses, tyres, and waste sites — in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, achieving high accuracy and enabling low-cost large-scale plastic pollution mapping.

2022 Remote Sensing 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Development of Novel Classification Algorithms for Detection of Floating Plastic Debris in Coastal Waterbodies Using Multispectral Sentinel-2 Remote Sensing Imagery

Researchers developed classification algorithms using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to detect floating plastic debris in coastal waters near Cyprus and Greece. They tested both unsupervised and supervised methods and found that a semi-supervised fuzzy c-means approach achieved the highest accuracy for identifying plastics. The study demonstrates that remote sensing technology can be an effective tool for monitoring and mapping marine plastic pollution at scale.

2021 Remote Sensing 79 citations
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

Smart Ocean Cleanup: An AI-Integrated Autonomous System for Marine Waste Management

This paper presents an AI-powered autonomous boat system designed to detect and collect marine pollution — including plastics, oil spills, and microplastics — using deep learning image classification, IoT sensors, and robotic collection mechanisms. The system demonstrated over 94% accuracy for pollutant detection and classification across several AI models. While focused more broadly on ocean cleanup technology than on microplastic science specifically, it demonstrates how AI-integrated robotics could help address the practical challenge of removing plastic waste from ocean surfaces before it breaks down further.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Targeting Plastics: Machine Learning Applied to Litter Detection in Aerial Multispectral Images

Researchers applied machine learning to aerial multispectral images for automated detection of plastic litter in natural areas, demonstrating that combining spectral data with classification algorithms can effectively identify and monitor plastic waste pollution.

2022 Remote Sensing 25 citations
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

Aquatic Trash Detection and Classification: a Machine Learning and Deep Learning Perspective

This review examines machine learning and deep learning approaches for detecting and classifying aquatic trash in waterways, evaluating how computer vision algorithms trained on underwater and surface imagery can automate pollution monitoring for faster, more scalable ocean cleanup.

2025 International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science
Article Tier 2

AI for Monitoring Ocean Plastic Pollution

This review assessed how artificial intelligence technologies—including satellite image analysis, computer vision, and machine learning—are being applied to monitor ocean plastic pollution. The authors found AI can dramatically expand spatial coverage and detection speed compared to traditional ship-based surveys, though ground-truth validation and data standardization remain challenges.

2025 International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology
Article Tier 2

Marine Debris Detection in Satellite Surveillance Using Attention Mechanisms

Researchers developed an approach combining satellite imagery with attention-based deep learning models to detect marine debris from space. The study found that a model using combined spatial and channel attention (CBAM) achieved the best performance, with a 77% detection score, outperforming other approaches tested. These findings suggest that AI-enhanced satellite surveillance could become a practical tool for monitoring ocean plastic pollution at scale.

2024 IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 27 citations
Article Tier 2

MARIDA: A benchmark for Marine Debris detection from Sentinel-2 remote sensing data

Researchers created MARIDA, the first benchmark dataset using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for machine learning-based marine debris detection, distinguishing plastic debris from co-existing features like algae, ships, and various water types across global locations.

2022 PLoS ONE 97 citations
Article Tier 2

An Artificial Intelligence based Optical Sensor for Microplastic Detection in Seawater

Researchers developed an AI-based optical sensor system combining an optical detection subsystem and an image acquisition subsystem to detect and identify microplastic particles in seawater, distinguishing them from naturally occurring marine particles. The device applies AI algorithms to analyze consecutive image frames and classify particles as microplastic or non-microplastic, with the full system housed in two portable cases.

2023 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Finding Plastic Patches in Coastal Waters using Optical Satellite Data

Researchers demonstrated for the first time that floating macroplastic patches can be detected in optical data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites, validating detections against ground-truth observations and identifying characteristics that distinguish plastic from other floating material.

2020 Scientific Reports 304 citations
Article Tier 2

Review of Methods for Automatic Plastic Detection in Water Areas Using Satellite Images and Machine Learning

This review surveys methods for automatically detecting floating plastic pollution in water using satellite imagery and machine learning. The study describes key data acquisition techniques and deep learning algorithms being developed to identify plastic accumulation zones, track waste movement, and help address ocean plastic pollution more effectively.

2024 Sensors 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Vision Transformer Model in Environmental Surveillance: Detection of Microplastics for Global Sustainability

Researchers developed a deep learning model using Vision Transformers within a Fast R-CNN framework to automatically detect and quantify microplastics from images. The hybrid model showed strong performance in detecting particles 3 millimeters or larger but had difficulty identifying very small particles. The approach offers a faster and potentially more efficient alternative to traditional laboratory methods for microplastic identification.

2026
Article Tier 2

Detecting Microplastics in Seawater with a Novel Optical Sensor Based on Artificial Intelligence Models

Detecting microplastics in seawater quickly and accurately is a major technical challenge, and this study developed a novel optical sensor that uses artificial intelligence to identify plastic particles from light-scattering data in real time. The AI-powered system was tested on seawater samples and showed promising accuracy for classifying microplastic types without the need for time-consuming laboratory processing. Automated in-situ sensors like this could enable continuous, large-scale ocean monitoring for microplastic pollution.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Deep Learning Approaches for Detection and Classification of Microplastics in Water for Clean Water Management

Researchers applied dual deep learning models (YOLOv8, YOLOv11, and several CNN architectures) to detect and classify microplastics in water, finding that these AI approaches could accurately identify plastic types across both aquatic and non-aquatic datasets.

2025
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

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