A 3D numerical model to Track Marine Plastic Debris (TrackMPD): Sensitivity of microplastic trajectories and fates to particle dynamical properties and physical processes

Jalón‐Rojas, Isabel; Wang, Xiaohua; Fredj, Erick

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.02.052

Cited by 121 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The present study, performed under controlled wave and wind conditions in the laboratory, demonstrates vividly that dispersion of plastics in the nearshore zone cannot be summed up as a bulk onshore motion, but that it involves a series of fine interactions among several physical processes and the particle features [33]. The most illustrative case is the one for heavy particles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Plastic particle behaviour in shallow water is important for model studies of plastic distribution in coastal areas [30,14]. Major limitations are present in most model studies due to a lack of knowledge on basic plastic particle dynamics and the interaction with complex hydrodynamics [16,18,31,32,33]. It has previously been suggested that waves in combination with wind, currents and plastic densities affect the accumulation patterns of plastic litter on beaches [17,34,35,36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behaviour of plastic litter in nearshore waters: First insights from wind and wave laboratory experiments

Forsberg

Sous

Stocchino

et al. 2020

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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Plastic litter in nearshore waters is an environmental pollutant with increasing impact on coastal environments. At present, knowledge on basic plastic particle dynamics and the interaction with complex hydrodynamics is lacking. The present laboratory study, performed under controlled wave and wind conditions, demonstrates the dispersion of plastics in shallow waters. The study presents a simple case looking solely at cross-shore particle transport. The results show that both wind and waves as well as plastic properties (shape and density) govern the behaviour of plastic litter in the nearshore zone. Heavy particles behave like natural sand with accumulation in the wave breaking zone. Light particles have varying accumulation along the coastal profile depending on the wave and wind field and the particle shape. More extensive characterization remains to be done in future studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behaviour of plastic litter in nearshore waters: First insights from wind and wave laboratory experiments

Forsberg

Sous

Stocchino

et al. 2020

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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“…Indeed, it is difficult to determine what marine bacteria in the oceans may currently experience in terms of leachate exposure, as there are very few measurements of the substances that leach from plastic debris, or their concentrations, in the marine environment. The patterns and timeframes associated with movement of plastics from coastal source locations to open ocean regions are also complex and variable, influenced by temporal and spatial factors (e.g., season and currents), water properties (e.g., sea surface height and current velocities), and plastic particle properties (e.g., size, type and extent of biofouling) (Kako et al, 2010;Maximenko et al, 2012;Liubartseva et al, 2018;Jalón-Rojas et al, 2019). In one study based on models of drifters, Maximenko et al (2012) estimated that the minimum time for microplastic debris to reach the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from the West Coast of the United States was less than 100 days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Toxicity of Leachates From Weathered Plastics on Photosynthetic Marine Bacteria Prochlorococcus

et al. 2020

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Marine plastic pollution is a well-recognized, global problem. Research addressing plastic pollution has largely focused on investigating impacts on macroorganisms, with few studies investigating effects on marine microbes. We previously showed that marine Prochlorococcus, which are important contributors to oceanic primary production, suffer declines in growth and photosynthetic activity following exposure to leachates from new plastic bags (HDPE) and plastic matting (PVC). However, as such plastics reside in the environment they will be subject to weathering processes, so it is also important to consider how these may alter the composition and amounts of substances available to leach. Here we report on how plastic leachate toxicity is affected by environmental weathering (17-and 112-days in estuarine water) of these common plastic materials. We found that while toxicity was reduced by weathering, materials weathered for up to 112days continued to leach substances that negatively affected Prochlorococcus growth, photophysiology and membrane integrity. Weathered plastics were found to continue to leach zinc, even after up to 112-days in the environment. The two Prochlorococcus strains tested, NATL2A and MIT9312, showed differences in the sensitivity and timing of their responses, indicating that exposure to leachate from weathered plastics may affect even closely related strains to different degrees. As many marine regions inhabited by Prochlorococcus are likely to be subject to continued accumulation of plastic pollution, our findings highlight the potential for ongoing impacts on these important primary producers.

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“…It is also the most commonly used framework to compute the pathways and distributions of plastic particles in the ocean (e.g. Lebreton et al 2012, Maes and Blanke 2015, Iwasaki et al 2017, Jalón-Rojas et al 2019, Onink et al 2019, van Gennip et al 2019. These Lagrangian simulations use (pre-computed) Eulerian velocity data derived from observations or models to compute the pathways of virtual particles, by integrating the (spatiallyand temporarily-varying) velocity field in time.…”

Section: Numerical Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris

Sebille

Aliani

Law

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

570

267

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Marine plastic debris floating on the ocean surface is a major environmental problem. However, its distribution in the ocean is poorly mapped, and most of the plastic waste estimated to have entered the ocean from land is unaccounted for. Better understanding of how plastic debris is transported from coastal and marine sources is crucial to quantify and close the global inventory of marine plastics, which in turn represents critical information for mitigation or policy strategies. At the same time, plastic is a unique tracer that provides an opportunity to learn more about the physics and dynamics of our ocean across multiple scales, from the Ekman convergence in basin-scale gyres to individual waves in the surfzone. In this review, we comprehensively discuss what is known about the different processes that govern the transport of floating marine plastic debris in both the open ocean and the coastal zones, based on the published literature and referring to insights from neighbouring fields such as oil spill dispersion, marine safety recovery, plankton connectivity, and others. We discuss how measurements of marine plastics (both in situ and in the laboratory), remote sensing, and numerical simulations can elucidate these processes and their interactions across spatio-temporal scales. Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 023003 E van Sebille et al Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 023003 E van Sebille et al References Acha E M, Mianzan H W, Iribarne O, Gagliardini D A, Lasta C and Daleo P 2003 The role of the Rı́o de la Plata bottom salinity front in accumulating debris Mar. Pollut. Bull. 46 197-202 Acha E M, Piola A, Iribarne O and Mianzan H 2015 Ecological Processes at Marine Fronts: Oases in the Ocean (Berlin: Springer) Aliani S and Molcard A 2003 Hitch-hiking on floating marine debris: macrobenthic species in the Western Mediterranean Sea Hydrobiologia 503 59-67 Allen J 1985 Principles of Physical Sedimentology (Berlin: Springer) Alpers W 1985 Theory of radar imaging of internal waves Nature 314 245-7 Alsina J M and Cáceres I 2011 Sediment suspension events in the inner surf and swash zone. Measurements in large-scale and high-energy wave conditions Coast. Eng. 58

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A 3D numerical model to Track Marine Plastic Debris (TrackMPD): Sensitivity of microplastic trajectories and fates to particle dynamical properties and physical processes

Cited by 121 publications

References 75 publications

Behaviour of plastic litter in nearshore waters: First insights from wind and wave laboratory experiments

Behaviour of plastic litter in nearshore waters: First insights from wind and wave laboratory experiments

Assessing the Toxicity of Leachates From Weathered Plastics on Photosynthetic Marine Bacteria Prochlorococcus

The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris

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