Tub toys orbit the Pacific subarctic gyre

Ebbesmeyer, Curtis C.; Ingraham, W. James; Royer, Thomas C.; Grosch, C. E.

doi:10.1029/2007eo010001

Cited by 28 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In addition, specific SiO 2 sources such as fluvial input from the Rocky Mountains and Coastal Ranges in Canada and the USA, may be particularly important along the eastern North Pacific margin, where the low-salinity Aleutian Current contributes significantly to the near-surface nutrient inventory. This current may be less important for diatom growth in the far northwestern Pacific, even though a western branch of the Aleutian Current today reaches all the way up to Site MD01-2416 (traced by plastic toys; Ebbesmeyer et al [2007]). In addition, wind-borne iron forms a limiting trace nutrient [Tsuda et al, 2003] that may have strongly increased during glacial and early deglacial times.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic North Pacific for Pleistocene glacial terminations I to V

Gebhardt¹,

Sarnthein²,

et al. 2008

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[1] Our study addresses fundamental questions of the mode and timing of orbital and millennial-scale changes in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the subarctic North Pacific. Particular concerns are the vertical mixing, the present and past abundance of nutrients in surface waters despite strong stratification, and the North Pacific-North Atlantic seesaw of oscillations in sea surface temperature (SST). We do this by generating and interpreting multiple records for glacial terminations I-V down two long piston cores, one each from the western and eastern subarctic Pacific. Chlorins and biogenic opal are proxies for surface water productivity; d 13 C of epibenthic foraminifera is a record of deepwater ventilation; and the d 13 C of N. pachyderma sin. is a tracer of nutrients in subsurface waters that extend up to the sea surface during times of vertical mixing. The degree of mixing is traced by pairing SST and d 18 O records of planktic surface and subsurface (pycnocline) dwellers. Tight age control is deduced from a suite of age-calibrated 14 C plateau boundaries for Termination I and benthic d 18 O and geomagnetic events for the last 800 ka. Carbon 14 paleoreservoir ages record the ages of surface and deep waters to uncover short-term changes in MOC over Termination I. We have defined a standard sequence of short-term productivity events for Termination I, also evident during terminations II to V and subsequent interglacials over the last 450 ka. The peak glacial regime of stable stratification and low productivity terminated, together with the end of ice rafting and melting, near 17 ka, $2000 years after the onset of Termination I. Pulses of vertical mixing and incursion of warm surface waters from the subtropics followed. Convected young water masses finally penetrated down to 3600-m water depth at 17.0 to less than 14.5 ka, significantly improving bottom water ventilation through the late deglacial and earliest interglacial. Mixing with upwelled nutrients from the pycnocline induced short-term maxima in algal production of chlorins and biogenic opal near 17-15 and 15-12 ka, respectively. Deglacial meltwater incursions in the Aleutian Current and silica input from North American rivers also promoted East Pacific productivity after 15.5 ka. Productivity decreased during the late deglacial and early interglacial, coeval with an exceptional peak in CaCO 3 preservation caused by both low organic flux and well-ventilated deepwater. Subsequently, low salinity and cool surface waters and in turn, stratification were gradually restored. A second, opaldominated productivity maximum marked the ends of interglacials. The deglacial pulses of vertical mixing around 17-11 ka imply an important contribution of the North Pacific to the coeval release of oceanic CO 2 into the atmosphere and support the east-west seesaw model of climate change.Citation: Gebhardt, H., M. Sarnthein, P. M. Grootes, T. Kiefer, H. Kuehn, F. Schmieder, and U. Röhl (2008), Paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic North ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic North Pacific for Pleistocene glacial terminations I to V

Gebhardt¹,

Sarnthein²,

et al. 2008

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“…Even the most remote of localities of both Northern and Southern hemispheres are no longer immune from littering by marine debris: e.g. Antarctica and sub-Antarctic Islands of the Southern Ocean (Gregory et al 1984;Eriksson & Burton 2003;Barnes & Milner 2005); North Pacific gyre (Moore 2003;Ebbesmeyer et al 2007) and South Pacific Islands (Gregory 1999a). Nevertheless, and in contrast to the above comments, censuses at crudely 10 year intervals (mid-1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and mid-2000s in progress) of virgin plastic granules (pellets or nibs) suggest the quantities are slowly and steadily, but somewhat irregularly, declining on the shores of New Zealand, eastern Canada and possibly Bermuda (M. R. Gregory, unpublished).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings—entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions

Gregory

2009

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

1,513

758

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Over the past five or six decades, contamination and pollution of the world's enclosed seas, coastal waters and the wider open oceans by plastics and other synthetic, non-biodegradable materials (generally known as 'marine debris') has been an ever-increasing phenomenon. The sources of these polluting materials are both land-and marine-based, their origins may be local or distant, and the environmental consequences are many and varied. The more widely recognized problems are typically associated with entanglement, ingestion, suffocation and general debilitation, and are often related to stranding events and public perception. Among the less frequently recognized and recorded problems are global hazards to shipping, fisheries and other maritime activities. Today, there are rapidly developing research interests in the biota attracted to freely floating (i.e. pelagic) marine debris, commonly known as 'hangers-on and hitch-hikers' as well as material sinking to the sea floor despite being buoyant. Dispersal of aggressive alien and invasive species by these mechanisms leads one to reflect on the possibilities that ensuing invasions could endanger sensitive, or at-risk coastal environments (both marine and terrestrial) far from their native habitats.

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“…Since that time, a large community of volunteers helped spotting toys that washed ashore (Ebbesmeyer et al, 2007). The first option was visual tracking by a group of volunteers.…”

Section: Methodology: Technologies For Tracking Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

Trash track – active location sensing for evaluating e-waste transportation

2013

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Waste and recycling systems are complex and far-reaching, but its mechanisms are poorly understood by the public, in some cases government organizations and even the waste management sector itself. The lack of empirical data makes it challenging to assess the environmental impact of trash collection, removal and disposal. This is especially the case for the global movement of electronic wastes. Senseable City Lab's Trash Track project tackles this scarcity of data by following the trajectories of individual objects. The project presents a methodology involving active location sensors that were placed on end-of-life products donated by volunteers in the Seattle, Washington area. These tags sent location messages chronicling their journey, some over the course of a month or more. In this paper, the authors focus on the analysis of traces acquired from 146 items of electronic waste, estimating evaluating the environmental impact, including the travel distances and end-of-life treatments for the products. Combining this information with impact evaluation from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Reduction Model (WARM) allows for the creation of environmental impact profiles for individual pieces of trash.

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Tub toys orbit the Pacific subarctic gyre

Cited by 28 publications

References 12 publications

Paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic North Pacific for Pleistocene glacial terminations I to V

Paleonutrient and productivity records from the subarctic North Pacific for Pleistocene glacial terminations I to V

Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings—entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions

Trash track – active location sensing for evaluating e-waste transportation

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