Abstract

Monitoring ocean currents and pollutant transport is important for tracking environmental dynamics and forecasting pollutant movement, enabling pollution control measures to protect marine ecosystems. Technological improvements during the last few years have enabled tracking phenomena with greater precision, extent, and efficiency. This paper identifies the most recent technological advances in monitoring ocean currents and tracking marine pollutants, focusing on autonomous sensors, remote sensing, and data assimilation frameworks. Specifically, the paper discusses autonomous underwater vehicles, high-frequency radars, satellite remote sensing, and state-of-the-art sensors for pollutant monitoring. It lists the most salient insights regarding the advantages and drawbacks of the technologies above, especially the difficulties of real-time, on-the-fly calibration, complex pollutant tracking in oceanographic environments, and the pollutants themselves. The paper proposes integrating disparate technologies to formulate an operational system for monitoring and controlling marine pollution and cites the need for integrated systems to be the focus of future research efforts to improve the systems designed for this task. The findings showcase the need for an integrated approach to designing monitoring systems for marine pollution and to devise measures for effective marine pollution control.

Keywords: Ocean currents, Marine pollutant transport, Remote sensing, Autonomous sensors, Drifter technology, Ocean monitoring systems