{"id":542699,"date":"2025-11-01T20:06:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T20:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/542699\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T20:06:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T20:06:25","slug":"in-spain-drones-are-used-to-protect-the-sea-they-detect-sunscreen-pollution-and-help-manage-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/542699\/","title":{"rendered":"In Spain, drones are used to protect the sea: they detect sunscreen pollution and help manage beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A team of researchers from <strong>ICMAN-CSIC<\/strong> in Spain has developed a pioneering technology that allows <strong>the detection of harmful concentrations of sunscreen in the sea<\/strong> using <strong>drones equipped with UV spectrophotometers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This innovation aims to <strong>evaluate the impact of sunscreens<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/noticiasambientales.com\/medio-ambiente\/playa-bagdad-la-pesca-ilegal-amenaza-a-tortugas-aves-y-ecosistemas-marinos-en-las-costas-de-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marine ecosystems<\/a> and advance towards a <strong>coastal environmental index<\/strong> that guides beach management with an ecosystemic approach.<\/p>\n<p>Sunscreens: allies for human health, threat to marine health<\/p>\n<p>Although the use of <strong>sunscreens<\/strong> is essential to prevent skin diseases, many creams contain <strong>chemical compounds that severely affect the marine ecosystem<\/strong>. These <a href=\"https:\/\/noticiasambientales.com\/medio-ambiente\/el-uso-de-protectores-solares-y-los-efectos-que-tienen-en-el-ecosistema\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>UV filters<\/strong><\/a>, considered <strong>emerging pollutants<\/strong>, reach the ocean by the ton every summer and are not retained by conventional purification systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEcotoxicology is revealing how complete formulations, not just isolated ingredients, can alter environmental toxicity,\u201d the researchers explain.<\/p>\n<p>Sunscreen-Index: protocols for more responsible cosmetics<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Sunscreen-Index<\/strong> project proposes to <strong>environmentally evaluate solar products from their design<\/strong>, considering:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Real mixtures and not just individual ingredients<\/li>\n<li>Environmental conditions such as temperature and UV radiation<\/li>\n<li>Complete life cycles of marine organisms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This approach allows for the detection of <strong>sublethal and cumulative effects<\/strong>, defining <strong>more precise risk thresholds<\/strong> and guiding <strong>cosmetic reformulations<\/strong> without compromising photoprotective efficacy.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-122753\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/protector-solar.webp.webp\" alt=\"sunscreen\" width=\"1280\" height=\"900\"\/>sunscreen<\/p>\n<p>Barriers to standardization and regulatory challenges<\/p>\n<p>The lack of collaboration from the sector, the <strong>diversity of compositions<\/strong> among brands, and a <strong>less demanding European labeling<\/strong> make it difficult to compare products.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, sustainability claims on packaging do not always reflect the <strong>real composition<\/strong> of the creams.<\/p>\n<p>TurisDron: drones for coastal environmental monitoring<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>TurisDron<\/strong> project integrates this technology into a <strong>beach quality index<\/strong>, combining variables such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sunscreens<\/li>\n<li>Microplastics and heavy metals<\/li>\n<li>Density of bathers and human pressure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The key component is the <strong>miniaturized UV spectrophotometer (SEN2SUNSCREENS)<\/strong>, capable of identifying the <strong>spectral signature of sunscreens<\/strong> from the air. Tests conducted in <strong>La Caleta and Camposoto (C\u00e1diz)<\/strong> confirmed its effectiveness in real conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Coastal management with data: from point diagnosis to operational surveillance<\/p>\n<p>TurisDron proposes a <strong>traffic light-type panel<\/strong> that condenses the ecological state of the water and alerts when <strong>critical limits<\/strong> are exceeded. The tools are designed for <strong>direct use by municipal managers<\/strong>, with standardized protocols for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Flight and sampling<\/li>\n<li>Calibration and reporting<\/li>\n<li>Interpretation and decision-making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This will allow for <strong>comparing beaches and seasons<\/strong>, <strong>prioritizing investments<\/strong>, and <strong>adjusting usage loads<\/strong> in sensitive areas.<\/p>\n<p>One Ocean, One Health: connecting ocean health with human health<\/p>\n<p>The entire project is framed within the <strong>One Ocean, One Health<\/strong> approach, which recognizes the <strong>interdependence between the health of marine ecosystems and human health<\/strong>. Drones expand the reach of these technologies, offering <strong>critical information to preserve the ecological quality of our coasts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>With this initiative, science provides a concrete tool for coastal management to <strong>monitor invisible pollutants<\/strong>, <strong>guide public policies<\/strong>, and <strong>promote more responsible cosmetics<\/strong>, without giving up sun protection. It is a key step towards <strong>sustainable tourism and marine conservation based on evidence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A team of researchers from ICMAN-CSIC in Spain has developed a pioneering technology that allows the detection of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[21470,2595,2000,299,856,15003,104,97223],"class_list":{"0":"post-542699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-beaches","9":"tag-drones","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-pollution","13":"tag-sea","14":"tag-spain","15":"tag-sunscreen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115476246922880179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}