Papers

61,005 results
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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Automated Plastic Waste Detection Using Advanced Deep Learning Frameworks

Researchers developed a deep learning system using advanced neural network frameworks for automated detection and classification of plastic waste from images, achieving high accuracy in identifying multiple plastic types to support environmental monitoring and waste sorting.

2025
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

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Approaches for Automatic Microplastics Identification and Characterization

This review examines how artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are being applied to identify, characterize, and model microplastic pollution in the environment. The authors found that these tools can analyze large sensor datasets to detect microplastics in water bodies, predict transport patterns, and model adsorption behavior under various environmental conditions. The study highlights the growing role of computational approaches in understanding and mitigating microplastic contamination.

2024 3 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

Deep Learning-Based Image Recognition System for Automated Microplastic Detection and Water Pollution Monitoring

This study developed a deep learning image recognition system to automate the detection and classification of microplastics from microscopy images of water samples. The system achieved high accuracy across particle types and sizes, offering a scalable and less labor-intensive alternative to manual microscopy for large-scale water pollution monitoring.

2025 Artificial Intelligence Systems and Its Applications
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

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

Advanced Classification of Marine Pollutants Using Sentinel-2 Multispectral Thermal Imaging and Vision Transformer for Enhanced Water Quality Assessment

This study used satellite multispectral imaging from the Sentinel-2 platform combined with a Vision Transformer machine learning model to automatically classify different types of marine pollutants — including plastics, algae, and oil — from aerial imagery. The AI-based approach significantly outperformed traditional classification methods and could detect plastic debris patches across large ocean areas. Automated large-scale detection of marine plastic pollution from satellites could transform the way we monitor and respond to ocean plastic contamination.

2025 Global NEST Journal 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Detection of Microplastics Using Machine Learning

Researchers reviewed and demonstrated machine learning approaches for detecting and classifying microplastics in environmental samples, finding that automated image analysis and spectral classification methods can improve the speed and accuracy of microplastic monitoring compared to manual methods.

2019 30 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

Projector deep feature extraction-based garbage image classification model using underwater images

Researchers developed a deep learning model using projector-based feature extraction to classify underwater garbage images, achieving high accuracy in identifying marine plastic debris and other waste types for automated ocean pollution monitoring.

2024 Multimedia Tools and Applications 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Aerial Remote Sensing of Aquatic Microplastic Pollution: The State of the Science and How to Move It Forward

A systematic literature review of aerial remote sensing for aquatic microplastic detection identified three main approaches — spectral characteristics, floating debris imaging, and AI-based analysis — all still largely experimental rather than operational.

2024 Microplastics 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of Deep Learning Algorithms for Underwater Trash Detection: Advancements, Challenges, and Future Directions

This review examines deep learning approaches for automated underwater trash detection, covering CNN-based architectures including YOLO and Faster R-CNN, and finds they outperform traditional sonar and manual inspection methods while identifying key challenges such as low visibility and limited labeled datasets.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of Deep Learning Algorithms for Underwater Trash Detection: Advancements, Challenges, and Future Directions

This review examines deep learning approaches for automated underwater trash detection, covering CNN-based architectures including YOLO and Faster R-CNN, and finds they outperform traditional sonar and manual inspection methods while identifying key challenges such as low visibility and limited labeled datasets.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
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

Satellite sensors as an emerging technique for monitoring macro- and microplastics in aquatic ecosystems

This review assessed the emerging use of satellite remote sensing technologies for monitoring macro- and microplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, evaluating current capabilities and limitations of different satellite sensors for detecting waterborne plastic debris.

2022 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 28 citations
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