MARINE LITTER SURVEY AT THE MAJOR SEA TURTLE NESTING ISLANDS IN THE ARABIAN GULF USING IN-SITU AND REMOTE SENSING METHODS

Rommel H. Maneja, Rejoice Thomas, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary*, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Jinoy Gopalan, Abdulrahman Jukhdar, Abdullajid U. Basali, Sachi Perera, Perdana K. Prihartato, Ronald A. Loughland, Tyas I. Hikmawan, Ali Qasem, Mohamed A. Qurban, Daniele Struppa

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the northwestern Arabian Gulf, the offshore islands of Jana and Karan are the major nesting sites of sea turtles. Continued litter pollution may clog the beaches of the islands and hamper nesting activities and hatchling emergence success. We examined the distribution of marine litter on Jana and Karan islands using a combination of in-situ beach litter survey and remote sensing satellite technologies. Results showed that the western portions of the islands receive the most significant amount of marine litter. The dominant debris type were plastic bottles by count and processed wood by weight. Jana island had relatively higher number of plastic bottles than Karan island. The vegetation line accumulated more significant amount of marine debris compared to the beach zone and the within vegetation zone. Debris was also observed deep into the islands. Plastic Index (PI) from Sentinel-2 was better in detecting a 19m-by-19m test plastic sheet than Floating Debris Index. The potential of PI was tested at Jana and Karan islands but require further studies to detect scattered macroplastics.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIGARSS 2021 - 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages8582-8585
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781665403696
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Publication series

NameInternational Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
Volume2021-July

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.

Keywords

  • Floating debris index
  • Marine litter
  • Plastic index
  • Remote sensing
  • Sea turtle nesting
  • Sentinel-2

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'MARINE LITTER SURVEY AT THE MAJOR SEA TURTLE NESTING ISLANDS IN THE ARABIAN GULF USING IN-SITU AND REMOTE SENSING METHODS'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this