Every year many millions of tonnes of plastic enter the global oceans but where it goes remains largely unknown. Remote sensing has the potential to provide long-term global monitoring, but for ocean plastic it is still in its early stages. To date, most progress has been made in the field of remote sensing using visible (VIS), near infrared (NIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths, but it has become clear that remote sensing in these optical wavelengths would be improved by using complementary measurements.

In this project, North Highland College used common plastic litter items to evaluate the performance of thermal infrared (TIR) sensing under a range of different conditions, i.e., different water and air temperatures, light intensity, and cloudiness of the sky. Find out more here.

The project was funded through the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities. It was selected through an Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) call for ideas on remote sensing of plastic marine litter.

Access the other Final presentations of ESA Discovery element activities videos.