Journal
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
Volume 79, Issue 3, Pages 648-660Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsac006
Keywords
hyperspectral; macroplastics; plastic pollution; remote sensing; shoreline; short-wave infrared; spectral angle mapping
Categories
Funding
- UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [1971900]
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This research establishes the concept of using a lightweight (800g), hyperspectral SWIR camera at an altitude of approximately 5m to detect domestic and shoreline-harvested plastic items on a beach under natural sunlight. The results demonstrate that these two polymers (polyethylene and polypropylene) can be successfully detected with this novel method through spectral correlation mapping.
Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a pervasive, global problem that threatens wildlife and human health. Routine monitoring is required to determine pollution hotspots, focus clean-up efforts, and assess the efficacy of legislation implemented to reduce environmental contamination. The shoreline represents an accessible area, relative to open water, from which to monitor this. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer a low-cost platform for remote sensing that operates below cloud coverage, which can interfere with satellite imagery. Detection of plastic using visible light is limited however, and results may be improved by using short-wave infrared (SWIR) imagery to collect chemical information. Within the commercial recycling industry, plastic items are sorted successfully based on their composition using SWIR instrumentation that measures the chemical spectra of waste items under controlled illumination. Here, proof of concept is established for aerial detection of domestic and shoreline-harvested plastic items on a beach under natural sunlight with a lightweight (800 g), hyperspectral SWIR camera deployed at an altitude of similar to 5 m over similar to 30-m transects. The results of spectral correlation mapping to compare imagery spectra to polyethylene and polypropylene reference spectra demonstrate that these two polymers can be successfully detected with this novel method.
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