Abstract
Around 350 million tonnes of plastics are annually produced worldwide. A remarkable percentage of these products is dispersed in the environment, finally reaching and dispersed in the marine environment. Recent field surveys detected microplastics’ concentrations in the Mediterranean Sea. The most commonly polymers found were polyethylene, polypropylene and viscose, ethylene vinyl acetate and polystyrene. In general, the in-situ monitoring of microplastic pollution is difficult and time consuming. The main goals of this work were to spectrally characterize the most commonly polymers and to quantify their spectral separability that may allow to determine optimal band combinations for imaging techniques monitoring. The spectral signatures of microplastics have been analysed in laboratory, both in dry condition and on water surface, using a full spectrum spectroradiometer. The theoretical use of operational satellite images for remote sensing monitoring was investigated by quantifying the spectral separability achievable by their sensors. The WorldView-3 sensor appears the most suitable for the monitoring but better average spectral separability are expected using the recently released PRISMA images. This research was preparatory to further outdoor experiments needed to better simulate the real acquisition condition.
Highlights
Around 350 million tonnes of plastics are annually produced worldwide
As a function of the origin, microplastics can be classified in: (1) primary, which are directly introduced in the sea as particles smaller than 5 mm and (2) secondary, which are generated by the degradation of bigger plastics litter within the marine e nvironmental[9]
Biodiversity is highly impaired by plastics as showed by more than 1400 marine species known to interact with marine plastic litter in different w ays[17]
Summary
Around 350 million tonnes of plastics are annually produced worldwide. A remarkable percentage of these products is dispersed in the environment, reaching and dispersed in the marine environment. The early detection and the near real time mapping of floating litter may represent a first informative layer that, once integrated on marine spatial planning framework, increase the stakeholders’, environmental practitioners’ and decision makers’ ability to mitigate effects on protected/vulnerable habitat and species[21,22]. Such a layer may assist in reducing the detrimental potential on societies and economies relying on marine ecosystem services (e.g. fisheries, aquaculture and tourism[23,24])
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