🏄‍♀️ How I Got Sick from the Ocean Again — and What Data Analytics Has to Do With It

1. Fever, nausea, diarrhea — this happens to me every time after surfing during the rainy season. Why? Because everything flows into the ocean — from garbage to, well… 💩.

2. In the North Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and California, 100,000 tons of plastic waste are spinning in a vortex. Welcome to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an area three times the size of France. It looks as bad as it sounds: like a giant plastic soup.

These are just two examples that show: ocean pollution is a global crisis, not just a local issue. Will we soon be afraid to even enter the ocean?

➡️ Every year, 19–23 million tons of plastic end up in oceans, rivers, and lakes — like throwing 2,000 garbage trucks into water every minute (source).

➡️ Around 170 trillion plastic particles float on the surface of oceans — and there may be 10,000 times more on the sea floor (source).

➡️ 100 million marine animals die each year because of ocean waste. Even plants that produce 70% of our oxygen are affected (source).

➡️ A study found microplastics in 99% of seafood samples, raising concerns about how this could harm our digestive system, hormones, and more (source).


So how does data analytics help?

There are nonprofits and companies fighting pollution. One of them is The Ocean Cleanup from the Netherlands. They clean the oceans using smart tech — and data is at the core of their work.

1. Finding the sources of pollution — to stop it early

🔔 80% of plastic in the ocean comes from just ~1,000 rivers.

To find these “pollution arteries,” Ocean Cleanup uses:

— Satellite images
— Hydrology maps
— Population and infrastructure data
— Models of how trash moves in water

This helps stop plastic before it reaches the ocean, by intercepting it in rivers.

2. Predicting where trash will go — to clean smarter

They use:

— Cameras on bridges to detect trash in rivers
— GPS buoys and radar to track its journey
— AI models to forecast when and where trash will gather in "garbage hotspots"

Thanks to that, they can launch cleanups in the right place and at the right time for maximum impact.

3. Data visualization that hits you emotionally

Numbers matter — but visuals make people feel the problem. They build dashboards that:

— Show where the ocean is "choking" on plastic
— Make the issue clear and relatable
— Help influence politicians and donors

🔗 See Ocean Pollution Dashboards
🔗 Plastic from rivers to the ocean
🔗 The Ocean Cleanup progress

4. Machine learning and future forecasts

To prevent, not just react, they train models to answer:

— What will happen if we keep polluting at the same rate?
— What if we cut plastic by just 20%?
— Where will new plastic hotspots appear in 5 years?

Career opportunities

The Ocean Cleanup hires data analysts and interns. For example:

— Internship: Data Quality and Modelling
— Computer Vision & Time Series Internship

Or become a citizen scientist by tracking plastic with these apps:

— Ocean Cleanup Survey App
— Debris Tracker

Other useful resources

1. Ocean Cleanup Podcast: Data-Driven
2. The role of data in solving plastic pollution
3. London Business School on analytics and clean oceans
4. Using data to solve ocean plastic pollution
5. Data sets for your own projects: Marine Data Science and NOAA Microplastics Database
6. Watch the documentary: Plastic People


If this post was helpful, I’d be really grateful for your support 🔥.