Papers

61,005 results
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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

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

Artificial Neural Networks for Mapping Coastal Lagoon of Chilika Lake, India, Using Earth Observation Data

Researchers used satellite imagery processed with machine learning methods to map the environmental conditions of Chilika Lake, a Ramsar-designated coastal lagoon in India. The study assessed the ecological state of Asia's largest brackish water lagoon, which faces threats from climate effects and anthropogenic pressures. The findings contribute to monitoring efforts for this internationally important wetland ecosystem.

2024 Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 15 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

Water Quality Grade Identification for Lakes in Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Using Landsat-8 Data with Deep Neural Networks (DNN) Model

Researchers developed a deep neural network model applied to Landsat-8 satellite data to automatically identify water quality grades for lakes in the middle Yangtze River reaches, demonstrating that machine learning and remote sensing can provide cost-effective large-scale monitoring as an alternative to labor-intensive in situ measurements.

2022 Remote Sensing 11 citations
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

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

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

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

Evaluating Microplastic Pollution Along the Dubai Coast: An Empirical Model Combining On-Site Sampling and Sentinel-2 Remote Sensing Data

Researchers collected coastal water samples from Dubai and combined laboratory spectral measurements with Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to build a model that estimates microplastic concentrations from space. The model achieved an R² of 87% and was used to map microplastic pollution trends along the Dubai coast from 2018 to 2021. This remote-sensing approach demonstrates a scalable method for monitoring coastal microplastic pollution over large areas without intensive fieldwork.

2024 Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems 3 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

Analysis of Land Use Evolution of Suzhou Wetlands Based on RS and GIS

Researchers used satellite remote sensing and GIS to track changes in land use and wetland coverage in Suzhou, China over time. Understanding how wetland ecosystems change is important for assessing their capacity to filter pollutants, including microplastics carried by stormwater and runoff.

2023 International Journal of Environment Agriculture and Biotechnology 1 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

Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Impacts of Climate Change on UAE Mangroves

Researchers analyzed spatiotemporal changes in UAE mangrove ecosystems using remote sensing, finding that climate variables such as land surface temperature and salinity significantly influenced mangrove growth and distribution patterns over time.

2023 Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems 8 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

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

Estimating Forest Aboveground Carbon Storage in Hang-Jia-Hu Using Landsat TM/OLI Data and Random Forest Model

Researchers used Landsat satellite imagery and machine learning to estimate forest carbon storage in a region of China over two decades. The study demonstrates remote sensing as a practical tool for tracking carbon stocks and the effects of land-use change.

2019 Forests 32 citations
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

Microplastic Pollution In Agricultural Lands And Its Environmental Impact Assessed Through Remote Sensing

Researchers combined field sampling and remote sensing to assess microplastic pollution in agricultural soils across three Indian locations, finding microplastics in both surface and subsurface layers and correlating pollution levels with land use patterns detectable by satellite imagery.

2025 International Journal of Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Assessing Shoreline Changes in Fringing Salt Marshes from Satellite Remote Sensing Data

This paper is not about microplastics; it uses satellite remote sensing (Landsat and Sentinel-2) to track historical shoreline changes in narrow salt marshes of the Aveiro lagoon in Portugal, documenting significant retreat since 2000.

2023 Remote Sensing 7 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

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

Quantifying the environmental impact of pollutant plumes from coastal rivers with remote sensing and river basin modelling

Researchers combined satellite remote sensing with river basin modeling to track pollution plumes from four coastal rivers in Italy, measuring their size, timing, and pollutant loads. The method can estimate how much contamination comes from rainfall runoff versus wastewater discharge, helping managers better understand and address coastal pollution threats.

2016 International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 20 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