Home
IEEE MetroSea 2021
MetroSea2021-S33

Technical Session

2021 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea

IEEE MetroSea 2021

CONFERENCE HOME SCHEDULE TRACKS SPONSORS

Special Session LIVE SESSION

Optical Methods and Systems for Water Pollution Detection, Characterization and Monitoring - PART 1

5 October, 202115:20 - 17:25 CEST

Not Authorized

You don't have privileges to see this content.

Learn more about how to register for an individual account.

GET ACCESS

Please Login

You should be logged in to see this content.

Don't you have an account?
Learn more about how to register for an individual account.

GET ACCESS

PRESENTATIONS
SESSION DETAILS

15:20 - 15:40

INVITED - Microplastic pollution from textiles: quantitative evaluation and mitigation strategies

Francesca De Falco - University of Plymouth

PRESENTATION

INVITED - Microplastic pollution from textiles: quantitative evaluation and mitigation strategies

ABSTRACT

In the latest years, much attention has been raised on the contribution of textile washing processes to the global release of microplastics to marine environments. These pollutants are released from textiles during the washing processes and due to their dimensions, are not completely retained by wastewater treatment plants, ending up in aquatic ecosystems. Here they may be ingested by fauna, adsorb persistent organic pollutants and leach toxic additives with possible consequences on humans too. This environmental problem is not only related to synthetic textiles like polyester, polyamides and acrylic, since also natural or artificial fibres like cotton and rayon have been detected in environmental samples. Therefore, the widespread occurrence of microfibres (synthetic, artificial or natural fibres < 5 mm) in different environments, calls for more research on the sources of this pollution and on parameters of influence. The present work will show studies on the release of microfibres from textiles by laundering, focusing on experimental methodologies developed to detect, quantify and characterize microfibres in the washing effluent. Two experimental procedures will be presented and compared: the first based on laboratory simulations of washing processes, the second based on real scale washing tests. Both procedures allowed to identify parameters that have a direct influence on the release, such as textile characteristics, laundry products and washing conditions. The outcome of this work could provide data and guidelines to relevant stakeholders and policy-makers to identify possible strategies to tackle this environmental problem. Therefore, mitigation actions will be also explored, in terms of best practices to apply at different levels of textile life and of innovative technologies like finishing treatments. In a final outlook, challenges for future work will be formulated.

15:40 - 16:00

INVITED - Applications of digital holographic microscopy towards aquatic particle and plankton monitoring

Aditya Nayak - Florida Atlantic University

PRESENTATION

INVITED - Applications of digital holographic microscopy towards aquatic particle and plankton monitoring

ABSTRACT

Holography is a valuable tool for characterizing the size, shape, distribution, and abundance of plankton in the water column in diverse aquatic environments. A submersible holographic imaging system (AUTOHOLO), developed for long-term deployments, was used in various applications, including characterization of dinoflagellate harmful algal blooms and larval fish species. Holograms were recorded in combined laboratory and field experiments over the course of a Karenia brevis bloom. This database was used to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically detect K. brevis cells recorded in the holograms. In a second application, the feasibility of the AUTOHOLO as a means to monitor sensitive larval species at power plant intakes was demonstrated. Experiments were performed using larval sturgeon in a lab facility designed to mimic flow rates consistent with those at power plant intakes. The recorded holograms captured distinctive sturgeon larvae traits, such as their dorsal fin and barbells, which can help distinguish them from other similar larval fish species.

16:00 - 16:20

INVITED - Detection and analysis of microplastics in the subtropical ocean of Okinawa using micro-Raman Optical Tweezers

Domna Kotsifaki - Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

PRESENTATION

INVITED - Detection and analysis of microplastics in the subtropical ocean of Okinawa using micro-Raman Optical Tweezers

ABSTRACT

Plastic is a widely used material in our daily lives. Microplastic pollution has also generated worldwide concern due to its distribution in the environment, and its potential threat to human and animal health. Due to the complexity of sampling and extracting plastics from the marine environment, existing studies have largely focused on mesoplastics, macroplastics, and large microplastics. Having accurate methods for quantifying the abundance of small microplastics in seawater is key for defining the extent of the problem they pose. In this work, we propose a non-invasive method to analyze sub-20 μm plastics in seawater around the subtropical island of Okinawa through optical tweezers micro-Raman spectroscopy. Our results show the dominance of low-density polyethylene with highest concentrations in areas with large-scale anthropogenic activities. This study provides evidence on the presence of microplastics in ocean around a blue zone region.

16:20 - 16:35

Raman Tweezers for single nanoplastic particles analysis in liquid environment

Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi - CNR-IPCF

PRESENTATION

Raman Tweezers for single nanoplastic particles analysis in liquid environment

ABSTRACT

We report on the use of Raman Tweezers, a combination of Optical Tweezers and Raman Spectroscopy, for the detection and chemical identification of nanometric particles of plastics and car tires fragments dispersed in water, at the single particle level.

16:35 - 16:50

Portable low-cost autofluorescence analyzer for plankton and plastic detection

Ulderico Wanderlingh - Università di Messina

PRESENTATION

Portable low-cost autofluorescence analyzer for plankton and plastic detection

ABSTRACT

The sea has always been one of the most important medium that humanity has used to travel and as an extensive precious source of food, especially for poor countries. However, this has caused several uncontrolled problems including, for example, the pollution of the sea and the exploitation of its resources, often altering the ecosystem in a compromising and irreversible way. Thus it becomes mandatory for the survival of all humanity to think and find new methodologies to prevent, recognize and solve these issues, some of these of truly extensive relevance including, for example, the presence of plastics and microplastics in the oceans or the phytoplankton species richness [1]. The quality of marine seawater is usually tested by means of physical, chemical and microbio- logical experiments, which are often unsuitable for online monitoring. In particular, fluorescence spectroscopy has proven to be an effective technique for characterizing and monitoring sources of pollution and in treatment works for controlling and optimizing processes [1]. Fluorescence consists in the release of light when molecules, called fluorophores, are excited with a high-energy light source. This technique has been used for its multiple advantages: it is fast, inexpensive, reagent-free, requires little sample preparation, is highly sensitive and non-invasive . Furthermore, fluorescence monitoring could furnish a rapid feedback, enabling studies with high spatial and temporal resolution. Since our aim was to (i) check the plankton wellness, and possibly (ii) identify micro-plastics, we are going to measure the autofluorescence of marine seawater. Plankton fluorescence is mainly due to chlorophyll with absorption bands at ≈ 430 and 470 nm and emission ones at ≈ 680 and 720 nm [2]. Moreover, plastics exhibit a background of autofluorescence when excited by UV/VIS radiation. Additives, e.g. pigments, and the variability in the compositions of plastics reflects in a broad VIS autofluorescence band peaked near 400 nm [3].

16:50 - 17:05

A fractal analysis of the holographic diffraction patterns for detecting microplastics among diatoms

Daniele Pirone - National Research Council - Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems (CNR-ISASI)

PRESENTATION

A fractal analysis of the holographic diffraction patterns for detecting microplastics among diatoms

ABSTRACT

Water pollution is one of the main global emergencies that must be quickly addressed in order to hinder its growing effects, which represent a danger for the environmental and the human health. It is mostly due to the production of microplastics from the larger plastic items released more and more into the water environment during the last decades. Therefore, the accurate identification of microplastics is strongly requested in order to assess the degree of pollution of a certain water area and then to apply suitable ecological strategies to clean it. However, this goal has not yet been achieved, because of the wide heterogeneity of objects that can be found in a water sample, and their microscopic dimensions. In particular, a lot of species of diatoms (i.e., unicellular microalgae) share the same range size and shape with microplastics. Digital holography (DH) has been exploited to realize a quantitative analysis of the microplastics’ and diatoms’ properties at the microscopic scale. Recently, we demonstrated the fruitful combination between the DH and the fractal geometry, in order to measure a very distinctive fractal signature related to the scattering properties of the imaged samples. Here we demonstrate that, by properly combining some of these fractal parameters with each other, also subsets of the fractal features allow to reach high accuracy in detecting microplastics among diatoms. These results, combined to the flow cytometric applications of DH, could open the route for fast and accurate tools for the microplastics’ identification and quantification in water.

17:05 - 17:20

Characterizing the ocean with acoustic waves: from seismic oceanography imaging to inversion

Ana Filipa Duarte - CERENA/Instituto Superior Técnico

PRESENTATION

Characterizing the ocean with acoustic waves: from seismic oceanography imaging to inversion

ABSTRACT

Seismic oceanography can be used to provide oceanographic insights about ocean processes happening simultaneously at large- and small-scales. We illustrate the potential of seismic oceanography data, by processing and inverting a set of three parallel two-dimensional multichannel seismic reflection profiles acquired in the Madeira Abyssal Plain during June 2016. The seismic sections were processed to image in detail the fine scale structure of the water column close to the sea surface. A similar processing sequence was applied to the three sections aiming to preserve, as much as possible, the relative seismic amplitudes of the data and enhance the shallow structure of the water column by effectively suppressing the direct arrival. The final processed seismic oceanography sections show several features of interest, comprising eddies at the expected Mediterranean Outflow Water depths, steeply dipping reflectors, which indicate the possible presence of frontal activity or secondary dipping eddy structures, and strong horizontal reflections between intermediate water masses suggestive of double diffuse processes. Then, we applied an iterative geostatistical seismic oceanography inversion methodology to predict the spatial distribution of temperature and salinity along each section. For the inversion we combined information about the ocean temperature and salinity from different sources. After the inversion, the predicted temperature are salinity models were interpolated with geostatistical simulation techniques to provide information regarding the region in between sections.

SESSION CHAIRS

Vittorio Bianco

CNR

e-BADGE

Onofrio M. Maragò

CNR-Istituto Processi Chimico-Fisici

e-BADGE

DATE & TIME

5 October, 2021
15:20 - 17:25 CEST

SPONSORS

Technical Session

2021 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea

IEEE MetroSea 2021

Optical Methods and Systems for Water Pollution Detection, Characterization and Monitoring - PART 1

INVITED - Microplastic pollution from textiles: quantitative evaluation and mitigation strategies

INVITED - Applications of digital holographic microscopy towards aquatic particle and plankton monitoring

INVITED - Detection and analysis of microplastics in the subtropical ocean of Okinawa using micro-Raman Optical Tweezers

Raman Tweezers for single nanoplastic particles analysis in liquid environment

Portable low-cost autofluorescence analyzer for plankton and plastic detection

A fractal analysis of the holographic diffraction patterns for detecting microplastics among diatoms

Characterizing the ocean with acoustic waves: from seismic oceanography imaging to inversion

SESSION CHAIRS

Vittorio Bianco

Onofrio M. Maragò

DATE & TIME

SPONSORS