Location of Macro Size Plastic Particles in the Ocean – Use of Satellites

According to an April 23, 2020 Plymouth Marine Laboratory UK news release https://www.pml.ac.uk/News_and_media/News/First_successful_study_to_detect_marine_plastic_po laboratory scientists “… analysed data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites … [demonstrating] for the first time that aggregated patches of plastics floating in coastal waters can be detected by satellites … aggregations of plastic particles were … distinguishable from naturally occurring floating materials … [This] is the first step towards developing an operational method of detecting floating plastic patches in waters all over the world … The team will continue to refine the technique to further increase its accuracy in detecting floating plastic patches in turbid coastal waters, and large river systems … This method will hopefully provide a stepping stone for satellites and drones to be used to tackle the marine plastics problem at the end of the product lifecycle … we will only ever make meaningful progress if we also tackle the source and reduce the amount of plastics produced ...” #MacroPlastic #PlasticWaste #SingleUsePlastic