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
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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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