Finding Plastic Patches in Coastal Waters using Optical Satellite Data

Biermann, L., et al., Nature Plastics & Pollution

Finding Plastic Patches in Coastal Waters using Optical Satellite Data
SpaceX on Unsplash

For the first time, we show that patches of floating macroplastics are detectable in optical data acquired by the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-2 satellites and, furthermore, are distinguishable from naturally occurring materials such as seaweed. We present case studies from four countries where suspected macroplastics were detected in Sentinel-2 Earth Observation data. Patches of materials on the ocean surface were highlighted using a novel Floating Debris Index (FDI) developed for the Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI).

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