Validation of a Lagrangian Model for Large-Scale Macroplastic Tracer Transport Using Mussel-Peg in Nw Spain (Ría De Arousa)

Cloux, Sara; Allen-Perkins, Silvia; Pablo, Hilda de; Garaboa-Paz, Daniel; Montero, Pedro; Pérez‐Muñuzuri, V.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3967923

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…However, there is still a large gap between masses of floating plastics in the ocean and the land-based fluxes of plastic debris to the ocean, spurring discussions about 'missing plastics' 4,138,139 . To better constrain the final sinks of these missing plastics, some modelling efforts have also simulated or parameterized more mechanisms, including the vertical movement due to buoyancy 133 and mixing 128 , beaching and re-suspension 140,141 , sedimentation 142 , fragmentation 143 and biofouling 134,144 . Continued development application of these types of model will help us to understand the accumulation, redistribution and residence time at fronts, and plastic transfer from rivers to ocean.…”

Section: Physical Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accumulation, transformation and transport of microplastics in estuarine fronts

Wang

Zhao

Zhu

et al. 2022

Nat Rev Earth Environ

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An estimated 19-23 million metric tons (MT) of land-based mismanaged plastic waste entered aquatic ecosystems in 2016 1 . More than 90% of mismanaged plastic waste is expected to be transported via watersheds (>100 km 2 ), suggesting that rivers are major pathways for plastics to the ocean 2 . Indeed, the estimated annual riverine plastic load into the global ocean is 0.8 to 2.7 million MT (ref. 3 ), as much as 50% of land-based plastic emissions (4.8-12.7 million MT) 4 . In the environment, natural fragmentation processes 5 break plastic waste into smaller pieces (<5 mm) of various sizes, shapes, colors and chemical composition 6 , collectively termed microplastics. As the environmental plastic load rises in the coming decades 7 , exposure of aquatic organisms to microplastics and associated chemicals will increase.Estuaries, which lie at the intersection of rivers and sea, accumulate pollutants including riverine plastic debris [8][9][10][11] . A notable accumulation hotspot is related to the formation of density fronts in estuarine system, where two distinct water masses interact and form sharp density transitions 12,13 . Estuarine fronts

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