Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches

Floating and washed ashore marine plastic debris (MPD) is a growing environmental challenge. It has become evident that secluded locations including the Arctic, Antarctic, and remote islands are being impacted by plastic pollution generated thousands of kilometers away. Optical remote sensing of MPD...

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Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Guffogg, JA, Soto-Berelov, M, Jones, SD, Bellman, CJ, Lavers, JL, Skidmore, AK
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPIAG 2021
Subjects:
UAV
Online Access:https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/1/144379%20-%20Towards%20the%20spectral%20mapping%20of%20plastic%20debris%20on%20beaches.pdf
id ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:44353
record_format openpolar
spelling ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:44353 2023-05-15T13:41:50+02:00 Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches Guffogg, JA Soto-Berelov, M Jones, SD Bellman, CJ Lavers, JL Skidmore, AK 2021 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/1/144379%20-%20Towards%20the%20spectral%20mapping%20of%20plastic%20debris%20on%20beaches.pdf en eng MDPIAG https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/1/144379%20-%20Towards%20the%20spectral%20mapping%20of%20plastic%20debris%20on%20beaches.pdf Guffogg, JA, Soto-Berelov, M, Jones, SD, Bellman, CJ, Lavers, JL orcid:0000-0001-7596-6588 and Skidmore, AK 2021 , 'Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches' , Remote Sensing, vol. 13, no. 9 , pp. 1-21 , doi:10.3390/rs13091850 <http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13091850>. marine debris plastic pollution remote island UAV drone remote sensing spectroscopy Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13091850 2022-02-28T23:17:03Z Floating and washed ashore marine plastic debris (MPD) is a growing environmental challenge. It has become evident that secluded locations including the Arctic, Antarctic, and remote islands are being impacted by plastic pollution generated thousands of kilometers away. Optical remote sensing of MPD is an emerging field that can aid in monitoring remote environments where in-person observation and data collection is not always feasible. Here we evaluate MPD spectral features in the visible to shortwave infrared regions for detecting varying quantities of MPD that have accumulated on beaches using a spectroradiometer. Measurements were taken from a range of in situ MPD accumulations ranging from 0.08% to 7.94% surface coverage. Our results suggest that spectral absorption features at 1215 nm and 1732 nm are useful for detecting varying abundance levels of MPD in a complex natural environment, however other absorption features at 931 nm, 1045 nm and 2046 nm could not detect in situ MPD. The reflectance of some in situ MPD accumulations was statistically different from samples that only contained organic debris and sand between 1.56% and 7.94% surface cover; however other samples with similar surface cover did not have reflectance that was statistically different from samples containing no MPD. Despite MPD being detectable against a background of sand and organic beach debris, a clear relationship between the surface cover of MPD and the strength of key absorption features could not be established. Additional research is needed to advance our understanding of the factors, such as type of MPD assemblage, that contribute to the bulk reflectance of MPD contaminated landscapes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Arctic Antarctic Remote Sensing 13 9 1850
institution Open Polar
collection University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints
op_collection_id ftunivtasmania
language English
topic marine debris
plastic pollution
remote island
UAV
drone
remote sensing
spectroscopy
spellingShingle marine debris
plastic pollution
remote island
UAV
drone
remote sensing
spectroscopy
Guffogg, JA
Soto-Berelov, M
Jones, SD
Bellman, CJ
Lavers, JL
Skidmore, AK
Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
topic_facet marine debris
plastic pollution
remote island
UAV
drone
remote sensing
spectroscopy
description Floating and washed ashore marine plastic debris (MPD) is a growing environmental challenge. It has become evident that secluded locations including the Arctic, Antarctic, and remote islands are being impacted by plastic pollution generated thousands of kilometers away. Optical remote sensing of MPD is an emerging field that can aid in monitoring remote environments where in-person observation and data collection is not always feasible. Here we evaluate MPD spectral features in the visible to shortwave infrared regions for detecting varying quantities of MPD that have accumulated on beaches using a spectroradiometer. Measurements were taken from a range of in situ MPD accumulations ranging from 0.08% to 7.94% surface coverage. Our results suggest that spectral absorption features at 1215 nm and 1732 nm are useful for detecting varying abundance levels of MPD in a complex natural environment, however other absorption features at 931 nm, 1045 nm and 2046 nm could not detect in situ MPD. The reflectance of some in situ MPD accumulations was statistically different from samples that only contained organic debris and sand between 1.56% and 7.94% surface cover; however other samples with similar surface cover did not have reflectance that was statistically different from samples containing no MPD. Despite MPD being detectable against a background of sand and organic beach debris, a clear relationship between the surface cover of MPD and the strength of key absorption features could not be established. Additional research is needed to advance our understanding of the factors, such as type of MPD assemblage, that contribute to the bulk reflectance of MPD contaminated landscapes.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Guffogg, JA
Soto-Berelov, M
Jones, SD
Bellman, CJ
Lavers, JL
Skidmore, AK
author_facet Guffogg, JA
Soto-Berelov, M
Jones, SD
Bellman, CJ
Lavers, JL
Skidmore, AK
author_sort Guffogg, JA
title Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
title_short Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
title_full Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
title_fullStr Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
title_full_unstemmed Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
title_sort towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches
publisher MDPIAG
publishDate 2021
url https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/1/144379%20-%20Towards%20the%20spectral%20mapping%20of%20plastic%20debris%20on%20beaches.pdf
geographic Arctic
Antarctic
geographic_facet Arctic
Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Arctic
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Arctic
op_relation https://eprints.utas.edu.au/44353/1/144379%20-%20Towards%20the%20spectral%20mapping%20of%20plastic%20debris%20on%20beaches.pdf
Guffogg, JA, Soto-Berelov, M, Jones, SD, Bellman, CJ, Lavers, JL orcid:0000-0001-7596-6588 and Skidmore, AK 2021 , 'Towards the spectral mapping of plastic debris on beaches' , Remote Sensing, vol. 13, no. 9 , pp. 1-21 , doi:10.3390/rs13091850 <http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13091850>.
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13091850
container_title Remote Sensing
container_volume 13
container_issue 9
container_start_page 1850
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