Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Quantifying the Geomorphic Effect of Floods Using Satellite Observations of River Mobility

This paper is not about microplastics; it uses satellite imagery and machine learning to study how flood magnitude, duration, and hydrograph shape determine lateral erosion and channel change in rivers.

2023 Geophysical Research Letters 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into suspended sediment and microplastic budget of a lowland river: integrating in-situ measurements, Sentinel-2 imagery, and machine learning

Researchers combined river measurements, satellite imagery, and machine learning to track how much microplastic the Tisza River in Hungary carries downstream each day. They found that flood events spike microplastic transport five-fold, meaning a small number of high-water days drive the majority of plastic particles reaching the sea.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Flux to Flow: a Clearer View of Earth’s Water Cycle Via Neural Networks and Satellite Data

This dissertation developed neural network methods to enhance the spatial resolution of satellite measurements of Earth's water cycle, enabling finer-scale monitoring of hydrological processes such as precipitation, evaporation, and runoff across diverse environments.

2023
Article Tier 2

Enhanced spatiotemporal mapping of urban wetland microplastics: An interpretable CNN-GRU approach using satellite imagery and limited samples

Researchers built an interpretable CNN-GRU deep learning model combining satellite remote sensing with limited in-situ measurements to map microplastic distribution in urban wetlands with enhanced spatiotemporal resolution, enabling more comprehensive monitoring with less field sampling.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Article Tier 2

Advancing hydrological monitoring using image-based techniques: challenges and opportunities

This paper is not about microplastics — it reviews image-based techniques (including remote sensing and computer vision) for hydrological monitoring of water bodies, discussing challenges and opportunities in measuring water flow, flood events, and water quality.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Machine Learning for Flood Resiliency—Current Status and Unexplored Directions

This systems review assessed machine learning applications across the flood management spectrum—reservoir inflow prediction (LSTM), levee failure detection (CNN), and low-impact development control (reinforcement learning). The paper is focused on flood resilience engineering and does not contain microplastics research.

2025 Environments 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Predicting microplastic quantities in Indonesian provincial rivers using machine learning models

This study used machine learning models to predict microplastic levels in rivers across 24 Indonesian provinces based on environmental and economic data. Temperature, economic output, and population density were the strongest predictors of microplastic pollution. The approach could help environmental agencies monitor and manage microplastic contamination in freshwater systems more efficiently.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Extraction of Surface Water Extent: Automated Thresholding Approaches

This paper is not relevant to microplastics — it evaluates automated thresholding algorithms applied to satellite remote sensing data for mapping surface water extent and monitoring floods and droughts.

2023
Article Tier 2

Riverine Microplastic Quantification: A Novel Approach Integrating Satellite Images, Neural Network, and Suspended Sediment Data as a Proxy

Researchers developed satellite-based models using neural network algorithms to estimate riverine microplastic concentrations, using suspended sediment concentration as a proxy, offering a cost-effective approach for broad-scale freshwater microplastic monitoring.

2023 Sensors 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of machine learning in assessing spatial distribution patterns of soil microplastics: a case study of the Bang Pakong Watershed, Thailand

Machine learning models were applied to predict spatial distribution patterns of microplastics in soils across a Thai watershed, identifying land use types and proximity to water bodies as key factors driving contamination levels.

2023
Article Tier 2

Enhancing discharge estimation from SWOT satellite data in a tropical tidal river environment

Researchers developed a methodology to improve river discharge estimates from the SWOT satellite mission in tidally influenced river environments in southern Vietnam. They found that measurement errors from the satellite could be reduced by optimizing the size of river segments analyzed. While not directly related to microplastics, the study advances remote sensing tools that can help monitor coastal water dynamics relevant to understanding pollutant transport in estuarine systems.

2024 PLOS Water 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Machine learning approaches for predicting microplastic pollution in peatland areas

Researchers used machine learning models to predict microplastic quantities in peatland sediments in Vietnam from easily measurable environmental parameters. The study found that pH, total organic carbon, and salinity were the most influential factors, and that Least-Square Support Vector Machines and Random Forest models could effectively predict microplastic contamination levels.

2023 Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluation of microplastic pollution in urban lentic ecosystem using remote sensing, GIS, and Support Vector Machine (SVM): relevance for environmental and ecological risk

Researchers assessed microplastic pollution in 24 urban ponds and lakes in Kolkata, India, finding significantly higher concentrations during the post-monsoon season, with fibers making up about 59% of all particles. They developed machine learning and remote sensing models that achieved up to 98% accuracy in identifying water bodies and predicting microplastic levels from satellite imagery. The study demonstrates that combining field sampling with remote sensing technology can enable large-scale monitoring of urban microplastic pollution.

2026 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Article Tier 2

Spatial prediction of physical and chemical properties of soil using optical satellite imagery: a state-of-the-art hybridization of deep learning algorithm

Not relevant to microplastics — this study uses deep learning models combining satellite imagery and topographic data to predict soil chemical properties (pH, organic carbon, phosphorus, potassium) across a region of Iran, with no connection to microplastic pollution.

2023 Frontiers in Environmental Science 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Seasonal and annual tropical river pattern change detection using machine learning

Researchers applied machine learning to Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to detect seasonal and annual changes in tropical river channel patterns in a region with strongly seasonal rainfall, successfully classifying active channel landforms including water, bare sediment, and vegetated bars. The approach provides a scalable method for monitoring dynamic tropical river systems.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Machine learning-based detection and mapping of riverine litter utilizing Sentinel-2 imagery

Researchers used satellite imagery and machine learning to detect and map litter accumulation in the Tisza River, Hungary, finding that dams are major hotspots and that flood events drive litter transport. While models performed well in controlled tests, real-world accuracy was moderate, highlighting the challenge of using satellite data to monitor riverine plastic pollution at scale. This matters because rivers are a primary pathway for plastic and microplastic debris reaching the ocean.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 14 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Meta-Analysis of Satellite Observations for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring the Potential of Machine Learning for Water Quality Monitoring

This meta-analysis and bibliometric review found that machine learning models, particularly random forest and neural networks, outperform conventional statistical methods for satellite-based water quality monitoring. While focused on remote sensing rather than microplastics directly, the methods could be applied to large-scale tracking of plastic pollution in surface waters.

2023 Environments 37 citations
Article Tier 2

The need of ecohydrological research in tropical forests for healthy watersheds

This paper is not relevant to microplastics; it argues for more ecohydrological research in tropical forests to understand water cycling and watershed health.

2023 Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Mapping the plastic legacy: Geospatial predictions of a microplastic inventory in a complex estuarine system using machine learning

Researchers applied machine learning techniques to develop geospatial predictions of microplastic inventory in a complex estuarine system, overcoming the limitations of coarse ocean basin models by accounting for the intricate geomorphological and hydrodynamic conditions that govern sediment-associated microplastic distribution.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Predicting microplastic accumulation zones and shoreline changes along the Kelantan coast, Malaysia, using integrated GIS and ANN models

Researchers combined GIS with an artificial neural network to predict microplastic accumulation zones along Malaysia's Kelantan coast, achieving R=0.972 predictive accuracy and identifying shoreline erosion-prone areas as the primary deposition hotspots for microplastic pollution.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Estimating microplastic concentrations in surface water using satellite-based turbidity measurements: a case study on the New River, VA

Researchers used satellite-derived turbidity measurements as a proxy for microplastic concentrations in the New River, Virginia, developing and validating a model that enables broader spatial and temporal monitoring of riverine microplastic pollution without intensive field sampling.

2025 VTechWorks (Virginia Tech)
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

Coastal Dynamics Analysis Based on Orbital Remote Sensing Big Data and Multivariate Statistical Models

Not relevant to microplastics — this remote sensing study uses satellite data and statistical models to analyze 36 years of shoreline change along the São Paulo, Brazil coastline, focusing on erosion and accretion rates.

2023 Coasts 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic deposits prediction on Urban Sandy Beaches: Integrating Remote Sensing, GNSS Positioning, µ-Raman Spectroscopy, and Machine Learning Models

Researchers integrated remote sensing, GNSS altimetric surveys, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and machine learning models to predict microplastic deposition patterns on urban sandy beaches along the central Sao Paulo coastline, finding MP concentrations ranging from 6 to 35 MPs/m2.

2025 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)