Marine and Oceanic Pollution
Studies show that one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die every year from plastic ingestion, with a growing number of species facing a risk of extinction. Microplastic is now in food and water and recently found in the bloodstream of some individuals and so far, little is known about the effects this could have on people’s health. With its complexity, comprehensive large-scale solutions are needed. Data and technology can provide valuable insights and innovative tools to better understand and frameworks to address the issue.
The plastics that enter the oceans/water bodies are broken down by sunlight, ocean waves and microbes and broken down into microplastics, of between 1 micrometer and 1 millimeter in diameter. These can be found throughout rivers, lakes, oceans, wildlife, and evening in drinking water. Inadequate solid waste disposal is thought to be the main contributor to microplastic pollution.
In partnership with the United States EPA, Draper , and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an onsite real time microplastics sensing system is being developed that will identify both the amount and types of microplastics present in an underwater area. The system is an automated dying ( using a fluorescent dye called Nile Red ) And analysis of seawater samples which causes the microplastics to fluoresce brightly and enables them to be identified from surrounding particles. The sensors can be deployed on docks, buoys, boats, or small autonomous underwater vehicles. This project will launch a plastic pollution index to measure and monitor trend predictions on microplastic particle concentrations in oceans and coastal areas around the world.
In Indonesia, and initial called Social Plastic, started by plastic bank to encourage citizens to recycle and reduce plastic waste, citizens exchange plastic waste collected with tokens that can be exchanged for services such as healthcare, pay schools or exchange for currency. Payments are tracked using blockchain to ensure maximum security and reduce losses.
As plastic pollution is becoming a nuisance that can affect tourism, many organizations are searching for solutions to detect and clean up the beaches and the maritime in an efficient manner.
Researchers are developing methods to detect plastics using earth observation, drones with or without polarized camera, and machine learning.
Beach cleaning is performed efficiently using a vacuum, either done manually or through a robot.
Pollution
The Seabin Project is the installation of a hybrid trash can and pool skimmer that is used in any calm aquatic environment such as a port or marina. The device floats in the water, pumps water into itself and filters debris before releasing the water back to the environment. Seabin can remove seaweed, macro, and microplastics down to 2 mm and soak up oil and petroleum projects using oil absorbent pads. The bin can catch up to 3.9 kg of debris a day or 1.4 tons per year.
Microplastics-Tyre Dust
The Tyre Collective is an electrostatic collection device that sits behind a tyre close to the road, to collect tire dust. Tyre dust is the second largest microplastic pollutant. Microplastic pollution from tires is a significant ocean pollutant and is likely to increase in volume as electric vehicles (EV) become more common. That is because the weight of the batteries in EVs causes more wear and tear on tires. The result is fewer exhaust fumes, and more microplastics, which can become airborne and thus present no less of a danger to human and environmental health than the emissions from gas-powered vehicles
SCIPPER
Researchers from the European project SCIPPER are using several innovative pollution-measuring techniques from drones and next-generation coastal sensors to space satellites to measure emissions from ships at both the harbors and other parts of the cities, to be able to compare accuracy and reliability of results, through collecting samples from exhaust plumes and modeling, for inspectors be used to enforce compliance with regulations on emissions and pollution.
As marine debris is a pervasive problem that impacts the marine and ocean environment, many organizations are developing methods to identify plastic and debris within the marine environment.
Machine learning and satellites are being used to detect plastic and marine debris. Researchers used the Sentinel-2 satellite and developed a floating debris index to identify plastic and timber 86 percent and 100 percent of the time using the spectral signature and machine learning, respectively. Planet's high-resolution imagery can identify plastic and marine debris with a deep learning model .
The trained high resolution model using Planet Imagery is open source and available on GitHub.
https://github.com/NASA-IMPACT/marine_debris_ML
An alternative method to detect microplastic in the oceans is via ocean roughness. Researches use the CYGNESS satellite to detect ocean roughness using radar where plastic makes the water smoother for a given wind speed.
To clean up marine debris, many organizations are developing various sizes of drones and boats to solve the trash problem in the marine and ocean environment. Drones can operate in autonomous mode or via remote control. As drones capture the trash, some have advanced sensors to obtain air and water quality data, filter out contaminants such as oil and heavy metal, and collect bathymetry. In addition, boats will have a large capacity to capture trash.
Scientists and researchers are developing low and high-tech methods to clean up small and large oil spills. Absorbent natural materials include human hair, dog fur, or peat moss to an aerogel that comprises air . High tech efficient method to extract the oil from surface water is a skimmer that incorporates grooves to the use of magnets to remove underwater oil.
A 2020 UN report Water Pollution by Plastics and Microplastics: A Review of Technical Solutions from Source to Sea explores a set of innovative tech solutions for use in various scenarios including: