SEOS: Marine Pollution

The aim of the eLearning tutorial presented here is to increase awareness among high school students of the damage done by marine pollution, and what may be done by individuals and society to protect valuable marine environments. Through carefully selected examples, students will understand how the state of the oceans may impact their everyday lives, even if they live many hundred kilometres away from the coasts and don’t eat fish. The tutorial covers the main sources of marine pollution, the impact of different pollutants, methods to detect pollution, and ways in which pollution may be prevented and environmental damage minimised. There are sections on oil pollution, harmful algal blooms, litter, invasive species, and invisible pollutants such as chemicals, heavy metals, and thermal pollution. Throughout the main focus is on the monitoring of different types of marine pollution using a range of remote sensing techniques, each with their own strengths and limitations.

Oil spills, for example, can be detected using radar images from satellites, In the case of larger spills, a suite of airborne sensors at microwave, infrared and optical wavelengths may be used to provide information about the position and extent of a spill, its relative thickness and potentially, the composition of the oil. Eutrophication arising from anthropogenic input of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds and phosphate may be monitored with ocean colour sensors. Thermal pollution from the input of cooling water from industry and power stations may also be monitored using a range of infrared and microwave satellite sensors. Carefully selected case studies demonstrate how the different sensors are used, individually and in synergy, to provide a thoroughly modern system for monitoring pollution and its impacts on the marine environment.