It seemed impossible with the technology available until now, but a combination of Earth observation satellites, supercomputers and advanced algorithms has allowed an international team of scientists to map it. Map of pollution caused by marine debris in the Mediterranean Sea Most complete to date.
The scientists University of Cadiz (Southern Spain), High Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) Spanish, In European Space Agency (ESA), several multinational companies in the space industry and universities and research centers in several countries have detected debris tracks flooding the Mediterranean Sea, and indicated that this would be amplified by attaching to observation satellites a sensor designed for this purpose. The current capacity to detect this contamination is twenty.
The results of the work, published this Friday in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that the sensor will allow the identification of floating objects as small as one meter, making it particularly suitable not only for detecting floating debris, but also for detecting pressure losses. For search and rescue operations on ships, oil spills or at sea.
This research, coordinated by Andrés Cózar (University of Cádiz) and Manuel Arias (CSIC Institute of Marine Sciences), was funded by ESA, the Ministry of Science and the EU, and was completed by demonstrating its compatibility with real cases. .
Therefore, they evaluated the effectiveness of anti-littering projects in the Tiber River passing through Rome (Italy), and they identified pollution sources related to marine transport through the Suez Canal (Egypt). Cleaning works in Bay of Biscay (Spain) waters.
Never seen before from space
“We noticed something that had never been seen before; Traditional field sampling can never compete with marine debris detection.he told EFE Andres KosarAnd they estimate that they have achieved it with technology that was not specifically designed for this purpose, so the possibilities offered by a particular sensor are even greater.
The researcher announced that the next step will be to design and test a prototype to demonstrate the device’s effectiveness before the ESA – which funded the project – decides to attach it to an Earth observation satellite in an upcoming launch. Space agencies including NASA and Japan’s JAXA are also interested in the work, and a joint mission could be fruitful in the future.
The amount of plastic on the ocean surface is high enough to generate a detectable signal from space, and plastic and other floating debris must coalesce into dense patches at least a dozen meters across before current satellites can detect them.
These debris patches (trails) are usually filamentous and arise as a result of ocean currents on the surface, the researchers observed, and they noted that finding these tracks reveals very high levels of pollution in one place and in another. Time is concrete.
The researchers have now verified the usefulness of these currents as indicators of marine debris in the Mediterranean, and based on six years of historical satellite images they look for three debris each year at a spatial resolution of 10 meters and days.
Garbage in the sea; A needle in a haystack
They analyzed around 300,000 images provided by the European Union’s Copernicus project satellites, whose sensors, while not specifically designed to detect debris, have demonstrated a particular ability to detect plastic.
“Looking for meter-sized debris on the ocean surface is like looking for needles in a haystack” The researcher explained Manuel Arias.
The researchers found thousands of debris tracks, many more than a kilometer long and some 20 kilometers long, enough to create a complete map of marine debris pollution in the Mediterranean to date.
Analyzing the data provided by the Sentinel satellites of the ESA Copernicus project, Andrés Cózar explained that the “search” focused on the Mediterranean, but that the process could be replicated across the planet in practice.
Many previous studies have already proven this, but researchers are confirming it again. “Yes, there’s a lot of trash in the ocean.”Cózar also warned that detection by satellites is “only” possible, but most of the waste ends up on the beach or in the ocean, so early detection is crucial to its removal and minimizes the most harmful effects.
The possibility of detecting this waste before it sinks would allow time and space targeted cleanup operations.The researcher explained that the system also offers the opportunity to detect these “injection” sources of debris, so its innovations and technological developments will help to find and remove floating debris and strengthen pollution. Monitoring and control functions.
