Abstract
Since 1970, increased plastic use and waste mismanagement have
contributed to environmental pollution leading to the proliferation of
microplastics and ocean contamination. Understanding the plastic
presence on-land is crucial as most plastic pollution originates from
land-based sources. From its vantage point-of-view on the International
Space Station, NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation
(EMIT) imaging spectrometer can measure surface reflectance spectra
across a wavelength range of 380 nm to 2500 nm. We present a study using
this instrument to detect distinctive absorption features of
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastics
in the shortwave infrared. By applying a column-wise adaptive matched
filter and using a library of plastic reflectance spectra, we
successfully identified signatures of these two types of plastics across
multiple continents between +/- 52 degrees, primarily related to
agricultural practices. Our study underscores the importance of
monitoring land-based sources of plastic pollution to guide future
mitigation strategies.