RT journal article
T1 Towards Underwater Macroplastic Monitoring Using Echo Sounding
A1 Broere, Sophie
A1 van Emmerik, Tim
A1 González Fernández, Daniel
A1 Luxemburg, Willem
A1 de Schipper, Matthieu
A1 Cózar Cabañas, Andrés
A1 van de Giesen, Nick
A2 Biología
K1 macroplastic
K1 hydrology
K1 sonar
K1 marine litter
K1 microplastic
AB Plastics originating from land are mainly transported to the oceans by rivers. The total plastic transport from land to seas remains uncertain because of difficulties in measuring and the lack of standard observation techniques. A large focus in observations is on plastics floating on the water surface. However, an increasing number of observations suggest that large quantities of plastics are transported in suspension, below the water surface. Available underwater plastic monitoring methods use nets or fish traps that need to be deployed below the surface and are labor-intensive. In this research, we explore the use of echo sounding as an innovative low-cost method to quantify and identify suspended macroplastics. Experiments under controlled and natural conditions using a low-cost off-the-shelf echo sounding device show that plastic items can be detected and identified up to 7 m below the river surface. Eight different debris items (metal can, cup, bottles, food wrappers, food container) were characterized based on their reflection signature. Reflectance from plastic items diverged significantly from organic material and non-plastic anthropogenic debris. During a multi-day trial field expedition in the Guadalete river, Spain, we found that between 0.8 and 6.3 m depth considerable quantities of plastics are transported. As most plastic monitoring and removal strategies focus on the upper layer below the surface (up to approximately 1.5 m depth), a substantial share of the total plastic transport may be neglected. With this paper we 1) demonstrate that echo sounding is a promising tool for underwater plastic monitoring, and 2) emphasize the importance of an improved understanding of the existing plastic loads below the surface.
PB FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
SN 2296-6463
YR 2021
FD 2021-07
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/25687
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/25687
LA eng
NO SB was received funding from the Lamminga Fund and the department of Water Resources Management (TU Delft). The work of TE is supported by the Veni research program The River Plastic Monitoring Project with project number 18211, which is (partly) funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 08-nov-2026