Surface Optics Partners with 4Walls International to Provide SWIR Hyperspectral Data for the Border Impact Bond

The non-profit organization 4Walls International in conjuncture with southern California researchers, is working with local municipalities in leading the way on attempts to clean up the US-Mexico bordered Tijuana River Estuary in a project known as the Border Impact Bond. The problem as stated by 4Walls International:

Single-use plastics, foam, tires and sediment flow across the border, threatening the Tijuana River Estuary (TRE). Quality of life, the environment, and public health in San Diego County is severely impacted, costing the state of California millions of dollars annually to clean up, but ultimately does not solve the problem or make changes at the source. The added difficulty is that state institutions are prohibited from acting upstream and can only react downstream with costly dredging and landfill measures.

Surface Optics was approached late 2020 as a local partner bringing hyperspectral expertise to the on-going study of the problem as well as potential multi-spectral solutions for monitoring the situation in the future.

On May 8th 2021, Surface Optics joined the 4Walls research team for an afternoon of SWIR data collection, specifically as it relates to plastic identification particularly, micro plastics, as well as plastic aggregation in high vegetation areas that may be difficult to see using normal visible imagery.

The collected data will be analyzed by the team to add to the other types of data collected through various method to help identify next steps.

This project is on-going and Surface Optics is proud to be able to contribute to this environmental challenge that faces us all.