Outcome and Results:
59 Ideas have been submitted, 30 have been evaluated as highly novel and have been invited to the followup steps:
- 12 were selected and invited to submit a proposal for system studies
- 17 were selected and invited to submit a proposal for Early Technology Developments
- 1 was selected and invited to submit a co-funded research proposal
The campaign allowed the investigation of a broad spectrum of theoretical and experimental approaches, technologies and techniques, identifying achievable monitoring targets per different scenarios, knowledge and technology gaps, and, in case, associated requirements to fill such gaps. The number of publications increased significantly with more projects reaching completion. While airborne and ground-based remote sensing demonstrated clear potential and capabilities to detect plastic marine litter, opening up the possibility to set up monitoring (commercial) services, current satellite sensors can detect large accumulation of floating matter, but need a technology push, already addressed, to improve spatial resolution and sensitivity, and choose dedicated spectral bands, to discriminate the presence of plastic litter in typical accumulations of litter and debris at sea. The interest in floating matter accumulations in coastal waters extends beyond plastic pollution, involving other fields of research that would welcome a dedicated small satellite mission, that already rose the interest of some Member State delegations. The campaign, together with the work of the ‘ground’ marine litter research community, indicated also the importance of embracing a more holistic remote sensing monitoring approach, so called from ‘source to sea’, extending the monitoring effort from the sea and coasts up into the rivers and polluted lands (dumpsites, landfills) close to waterways.
Additional research has been carried out on the outcome of an Earth observation processor for automatic detection of floating material accumulations (‘itter windrows’) in the Mediterranean Sea with Copernicus Sentinel-2 data and will soon be submitted for publication in a major journal (news on the project have been published in the ESA 2022 Highlights). The activities on LASER-induced fluorescence detection of plastic litter confirmed the promising lab results, demonstrating capability to detect plastic litter in the water column with the LASER source and sensor several meters away from the sea surface in experiments carried out in a harbour.
The international IOCCG Task Force, funded by and including several representatives of the campaign teams, over 40 international experts from all the world, and co-chaired by ESA, NASA, JAXA and ISRO, has become a global reference point on the topic., 40+ international experts from all the world and co-chaired by ESA, NASA, JAXA, ISRO, has become a global reference point on the topic.
Resources
- Marine litter Cluster on activities.esa.int
- Campaign Launch article on esa.int
- Article on selected ideas on esa.int
- Article on outcomes on esa.int