Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Aerial detection of beached marine plastic using a novel, hyperspectral short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera

Researchers demonstrated that a lightweight hyperspectral short-wave infrared camera mounted on a drone could successfully detect and distinguish polyethylene and polypropylene plastics on beaches under natural sunlight, establishing proof of concept for aerial plastic monitoring.

2022 ICES Journal of Marine Science 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Unmanned Vehicle and Hyperspectral Imager for a More Rapid Microplastics Sampling and Analysis

Researchers tested a combination of an autonomous surface vehicle and a near-infrared hyperspectral imager to rapidly sample and identify microplastics on the Norwegian coast. Results compared favorably with standard FTIR analysis and demonstrated a repeatable method for assessing spatially variable microplastic concentrations in the marine environment.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantifying Marine Plastic Debris in a Beach Environment Using Spectral Analysis

Researchers analyzed shortwave infrared reflectance spectra of weathered marine plastic debris on sandy beaches, finding that polymer type significantly influences detection capability at sub-pixel surface covers relevant to remote sensing applications.

2021 Remote Sensing 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Hyperspectral ultraviolet to shortwave infrared characteristics of marine-harvested, washed-ashore and virgin plastics

Researchers characterized the hyperspectral optical properties of marine-harvested plastic litter across ultraviolet to shortwave infrared wavelengths, generating spectral signatures needed to support remote sensing detection of floating plastic debris. The spectral library produced contributes to developing satellite and airborne monitoring systems for large-scale ocean plastic surveillance.

2020 Earth system science data 84 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of marine litter through remote sensing: recent approaches and future goals

This review classified remote sensing approaches for detecting marine litter — including satellite, aircraft, and drone platforms with optical, infrared, and radar sensors — finding that few studies had reached operational status and that detecting small or submerged litter remains a major technical challenge.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 112 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

Indoor spectroradiometric characterization of plastic litters commonly polluting the Mediterranean Sea: toward the application of multispectral imagery

Researchers used a laboratory spectrometer to measure the light reflectance of common plastic types found in the Mediterranean Sea as a step toward developing remote sensing methods to detect marine plastic pollution from satellites or aircraft. Aerial monitoring of plastic pollution could revolutionize our ability to track and manage large-scale ocean plastic contamination.

2020 Scientific Reports 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Object Detection of Macroplastic Waste Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Urban Canal

Researchers developed and tested an unmanned aerial vehicle-based system for detecting macroplastic waste along riverbanks and beaches using object detection algorithms. The system achieved reliable detection performance and offers a scalable tool for large-area plastic litter surveys.

2024 Ecological Engineering & Environmental Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

UAV Approach for Detecting Plastic Marine Debris on the Beach: A Case Study in the Po River Delta (Italy)

UAV imaging was used to detect and map anthropogenic marine debris on beaches in the Po River Delta, Italy, testing different image processing strategies and demonstrating that centimeter-scale spatial resolution UAV surveys can efficiently locate macroplastics before they degrade into harder-to-remove microplastics.

2021 Drones 53 citations
Article Tier 2

Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Artificial Floating Plastic Targets with Sentinel-2 and Unmanned Aerial Systems (Plastic Litter Project 2019)

Researchers tested remote sensing of floating plastic targets in a real marine environment using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and unmanned aerial systems during the 2019 Plastic Litter Project, collecting reference spectral data to help calibrate detection algorithms. The study provided a validated dataset characterizing the spectral behavior of floating plastics to support future remote monitoring efforts.

2020 Remote Sensing 105 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Technologies for Remote Sensing of Floating and Submerged Plastic Litter

This review evaluates emerging remote sensing technologies for detecting floating and submerged plastic litter in marine environments, including LiDAR, thermal infrared, radar, and multi-angle polarimetry. Researchers found that no single technology can detect all types of marine plastic under all conditions, and that combining multiple sensing approaches offers the best results. The study proposes a common vocabulary across disciplines and calls for more research on how different plastics interact with detection signals.

2024 Remote Sensing 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Use of an uncrewed surface vehicle and near infrared hyperspectral imaging for sampling and analysis of aquatic microplastics

Researchers combined an uncrewed surface vehicle with near-infrared hyperspectral imaging to sample and analyze aquatic microplastics larger than 300 micrometers. The approach demonstrated improved scalability and repeatability compared to traditional trawling methods, offering a more efficient way to monitor microplastic contamination in coastal waters.

2024 Marine Pollution Bulletin 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Study on marine microplastics monitoring based on infrared spectroscopy technology

Researchers developed an infrared spectroscopy-based monitoring system for marine microplastics, applying support vector machine algorithms to hyperspectral images to identify plastic types and abundances in seawater. The study found microplastic abundances ranging from roughly 5 to 39 particles per litre across sampling sites, with fibers (53-68%) and debris (23-34%) as dominant shapes, demonstrating the method's feasibility for rapid environmental monitoring.

2023 Materials Express 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Concept for a hyperspectral remote sensing algorithm for floating marine macro plastics

Researchers developed a reflectance model for how sunlight interacts with floating plastic debris on the ocean surface, accounting for plastic color, transparency, and shape, as a foundational step toward a hyperspectral remote sensing algorithm capable of detecting marine macroplastics from aircraft or satellite.

2017 Marine Pollution Bulletin 93 citations
Article Tier 2

Designing Unmanned Aerial Survey Monitoring Program to Assess Floating Litter Contamination

Researchers tested drone-based aerial surveys with high-resolution cameras as a cost-effective method for monitoring floating litter contamination in coastal waters, comparing manual counting, automated detection, and modeling approaches to optimize survey design.

2022 Remote Sensing 20 citations
Article Tier 2

An effective strategy for the monitoring of microplastics in complex aquatic matrices: Exploiting the potential of near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI)

Researchers developed a near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) method for rapid monitoring of microplastics in complex marine matrices, demonstrating effective detection and polymer identification that overcomes the time and cost limitations of conventional spectroscopic analysis approaches.

2021 Chemosphere 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing Floating Macroplastic Detection from Space Using Experimental Hyperspectral Imagery

Researchers tested experimental hyperspectral airborne imagery to detect floating macroplastics in rivers and the ocean, demonstrating that combining spectral and spatial features improves detection accuracy over single-band approaches.

2021 Remote Sensing 77 citations
Article Tier 2

Development of a Near-Infrared Imaging System for Identifying Microplastics in Water

Researchers developed a near-infrared imaging system capable of automatically identifying and characterizing microplastics suspended in water, successfully obtaining material identification images without the manual sorting typically required by conventional methods.

2022 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards the Spectral Mapping of Plastic Debris on Beaches

This paper reviews the use of remote sensing (satellite and aerial imaging) to detect and map plastic debris on beaches. Advances in spectral imaging could allow large-scale automated monitoring of coastal plastic pollution, which is currently labor-intensive and limited in coverage.

2021 Remote Sensing 20 citations
Article Tier 2

An airborne remote sensing case study of synthetic hydrocarbon detection using short wave infrared absorption features identified from marine-harvested macro- and microplastics

Researchers tested whether airborne remote sensing could detect synthetic hydrocarbon films and plastic debris on the ocean surface using spectral reflectance data from microplastics collected in the North Atlantic. The study explored the optical signatures of dry versus wet plastics to assess the feasibility of large-scale plastic monitoring from aircraft.

2017 Remote Sensing of Environment 200 citations
Article Tier 2

Hyperspectral remote sensing as an environmental plastic pollution detection approach to determine occurrence of microplastics in diverse environments

Researchers tested whether hyperspectral remote sensing technology could detect microplastics mixed into different environmental surfaces like soil, water, concrete, and vegetation. Using near-infrared and short-wave infrared imaging, they achieved over 90% accuracy in detecting and classifying six common plastic types at concentrations as low as 0.15%. The study suggests that remote sensing could become a practical, large-scale tool for monitoring microplastic pollution across diverse environments.

2025 Environmental Pollution 4 citations
Article Tier 2

A Proposed Technology Solution for Preventing Marine Littering Based on Uavs and Iot Cloud-based Data Analytics

This paper proposes a technological solution using unmanned aerial vehicles and automated collection systems to prevent marine littering at coastal hotspots. The approach aims to intercept plastic waste before it enters the ocean and breaks down into microplastics.

2019 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Spectral Discrimination of Pumice Rafts in Optical MSI Imagery

Remote sensing using multispectral satellite imagery was used to detect and track pumice rafts in the ocean, demonstrating a method that could also help monitor floating plastic debris distribution at sea.

2022 Remote Sensing 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics in environment by thermal gravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Researchers developed a method combining thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to identify and quantify microplastics in environmental samples, demonstrating that the combined temperature profiles and absorption spectra provide greater discriminatory power than either technique alone.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 137 citations