A Global Review of Progress in Remote Sensing and Monitoring of Marine Pollution

Abstract

With the rapid development of urbanization and industrialization, human activities have caused marine pollution in three ways: land source, air source, and sea source, leading to the problem of marine environments. Remote sensing, with its wide coverage and fast and accurate monitoring capability, continues to be an important tool for marine environment monitoring and evaluation research. This paper focuses on the three types of marine pollution, namely marine seawater pollution, marine debris and microplastic pollution, and marine air pollution. We review the application of remote sensing technology methods for monitoring marine pollution and identify the limitations of existing methods. Marine seawater pollution can be effectively monitored by remote sensing technology, especially where traditional monitoring methods are inadequate. For marine debris and microplastic pollution, the monitoring methods are still in the early stages of development and require further research. For marine air pollution, more air pollution parameters are required for accurate monitoring. Future research should focus on developing marine remote sensing with data, technology, and standard sharing for three-dimensional monitoring, combining optical and physical sensors with biosensors, and using multi-source and multi-temporal monitoring data. A marine multi-source monitoring database is necessary to provide an immediately available basis for coastal and marine governance, improve marine spatial planning, and help coastal and marine protection.