Monitoring discharge from deep-sea mining ships via optical satellite observations

Ziyao YIN; Yingcheng LU; Yuru LIU; Wenfeng ZHAN; Haoran ZHANG; Changyong DOU; Chenchen WU; Dong SUN; Zihan LIU; Chunsheng WANG; Yuntao WANG

doi:10.1007/s00343-024-3264-0

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Monitoring discharge from deep-sea mining ships via optical satellite observations

Physics | Updated：2024-12-24

- Monitoring discharge from deep-sea mining ships via optical satellite observations
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 42, Issue 6, Pages: 1853-1864(2024)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.International Institute for Earth System Science, Collaborative Innovation Center for the South Sea Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing210046, China
  2.Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou310012, China
  3.International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing100094, China
- Author bio：
  
  yuntao.wang@sio.org.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-024-3264-0
  CLC：
- Received：07 December 2023，
  
  Published：01 November 2024
- Accepted：
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YIN Ziyao,LU Yingcheng,LIU Yuru,et al.Research Paper Monitoring discharge from deep-sea mining ships via optical satellite observations[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2024,42(06):1853-1864.
DOI：

YIN Ziyao,LU Yingcheng,LIU Yuru,et al.Research Paper Monitoring discharge from deep-sea mining ships via optical satellite observations[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2024,42(06):1853-1864. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-024-3264-0.

摘要

Abstract

Deep-sea mining may disturb the water column environment

including the surface water and deep-sea

and these disturbances should be carefully treated. Remote sensing provides high-resolution and accurate long-term observations in the area around deep-sea mining. Discharge from mining ships can be identified within few days from satellite observations based on changes in reflectance. A pioneer two-month experimental deep-sea mining cruise was conducted by The Metal Company in the eastern Pacific Ocean from September 15 to November 17

2022. A report from Greenpeace indicated incidents of surface discharge and leakage during this mining experiment. In this study

satellite observations captured a clear signal over the surface water from September 24 to October 28

indicating the location with discharged water from the mothership. The number of pixels where the potential discharged water was identified in the satellite imagery ranged from 4 to 13. The discharged water was transported by the combined effects of wind and currents

locating continuously to the downwind side of the mothership’s mooring location. Remote sensing provides a timely and accurate monitoring system for tracking water discharge during deep-sea mining.

关键词

Keywords

references

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