Detecting microplastics pollution in world oceans using SAR remote sensing

• Published in: IGARSS 2018 - 2018 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
• Main Authors: Davaasuren N., Marino A., Boardman C., Alparone M., Nunziata F., Ackermann N., Hajnsek I.
• Other Authors: IEEE, Davaasuren, N., Marino, A., Boardman, C., Alparone, M., Nunziata, F., Ackermann, N., Hajnsek, I.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2018
• Subjects: COSMO-SkyMed; Microbial bio-film; Microplastic; SAR; Sea-slick; Sentinel-1A; Surfactant; TerraSAR-X; Pacific; Langmuir; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11367/77263; https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8517281

Plastic pollution in world oceans is estimated to have reached 270.000 tones, or 5.25 trillion pieces. This plastic is now ubiquitous, however due to ocean circulation patterns, it accumulates in the ocean gyres, creating “garbage patches”. This plastic debris is colonized by microorganisms which ca...