Access the web application here!
Introduction
Solution
Ocean trash is an emerging environmental crisis that many
In this project, Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-Time (OSCAR) third degree
organizations are working on to discover the causes and
resolution data was processed with format transformations, calculations, data
Kamilo Beach locates at the south-
solutions. Ocean trash causes plastic gyres in the middle of
aggregations and expansions to create a geodatabase, which was then used to
east corner of the Island of Hawaii.
the ocean and pollutes beaches along shorelines. Years after
develop a GIS model for tracing potential trash sources given a location where the
This beach is pathless and hard to
the ocean trash accumulates, it produces marine debris which
trash is spotted on a beach or in an ocean. The GIS model was developed as an
reach. It's also notorious for
leads to animal injuries or deaths. To mitigate the damage, a
ocean trash tracing Python script tool in ArcGIS Pro, which was then published as a
gathering trash from the ocean and
system for tracing the potential sources of ocean trash is
geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS Server. The geoprocessing service was embedded in a
becoming one of the dirties beaches
necessary.
web application where users can input the starting locations and see potential
in the world..
Case study: Kamilo Beach, Island of Hawaii
travelling routes of ocean trash. This project also developed an intuitive web https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/58eec1ca1800002100b5f623.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale
application for the public to trace possible trash sources and raises the awareness of the ocean trash crisis.
Web Application
Ocean Current Data
The web application requires an ocean trash location, a start date, a number of tracing days and a buffer
Data Conversion
width to run.
Major Ocean Currents map from ESRI
Ocean Current Geodatabase
Image by Greenpeace, items collected from the Pacific “Trash Vortex”.
Problem Statement Currently, most effort in dealing with ocean trash is in mapping and cleaning area where such trash is found on
Ocean Trash Tracing Script Tool
beaches or in oceans. However, such reactive effort just
Result
scratches the surface of the problem. Without knowing where trash originated from and improving trash management at their source locations, it’s impossible to solve the ocean trash crisis. However, there are only a limited number of models available for ocean trash tracing.
Client
result of the potential travelling
Geoprocessing Service
route while the number of Web Application Interface
tracing days is 90. • The lower graph shows the
The client for this project is OpenOceans Global, which is a non-profit
• The upper graph shows the
organization
located
in
San
Diego.
result of the potential travelling
This
route while the number of
organization aims at building a global community to share
tracing days is 400.
information and solutions about solving ocean crisis. The point of contact is Carl Nettleton, the President of OpenOceans Global.
From these two results, we can see the potential source of the trash on Kamilo Beach is from the Great Pacific Gyre.