Plastic debris in the open ocean
Andrés Cózar,Fidel Echevarría,J. Ignacio González-Gordillo,Xabier Irigoien,Bárbara Úbeda,Santiago Hernández-León,Alvaro T. Palma,Sandra Navarro,Juan García-de-Lomas,Andrea Ruiz,María L. Fernández-de-Puelles,Carlos M. Duarte +11 more
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TLDR
Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, this work shows a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density.Abstract:
There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.read more
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Migration of nonylphenol from food-grade plastic is toxic to the coral reef fish species Pseudochromis fridmani.
TL;DR: It is highlighted that some plastics, labeled as food-safe, can be highly toxic to aquatic animals, and could pose a greater threat to humans than previously realized.
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Towards more realistic reference microplastics and nanoplastics: preparation of polyethylene micro/nanoparticles with a biosurfactant
Gireeshkumar Balakrishnan,Maureen Déniel,Taco Nicolai,Christophe Chassenieux,Fabienne Lagarde +4 more
TL;DR: In this article, a simple method was developed for the preparation of polyethylene (PE) fragments using dissolution of PE in toluene followed by emulsification in water, and a powder of PE microparticles was obtained with radii between 0.2 to 0.80 μm.
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A systems analysis of microplastic pollution in Laizhou Bay, China
Jia Teng,Jianmin Zhao,Chen Zhang,Bo Cheng,Albert A. Koelmans,Di Wu,Meng Gao,Sun Xiyan,Yongliang Liu,Qing Wang +9 more
TL;DR: Cluster analysis suggested that the Gudong, Yellow River Estuary and Laizhou-Weifang regions are three sources of microplastics, which might originate from river input, plastic recycling and marine raft aquaculture.
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Nano- and microplastics trigger secretion of protein-rich extracellular polymeric substances from phytoplankton
Ruei-Feng Shiu,Carlos I. Vazquez,Chang-Ying Chiang,Meng-Hsuen Chiu,Chi-Shuo Chen,Chih-Wen Ni,Gwo-Ching Gong,Antonietta Quigg,Peter H. Santschi,Wei-Chun Chin +9 more
TL;DR: This work offers new insights into the potential harm of different-sized plastic particles and a better understanding of the responding mechanism of marine phytoplankton for plastic pollution, and provides needed information about the fate of marine plastics and biogenic aggregation and scavenging processes.
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Passive buoyant tracers in the ocean surface boundary layer: 2. Observations and simulations of microplastic marine debris
TL;DR: In this paper, a large eddy simulation of the Navier-Stokes equation was used to examine the vertical distributions of buoyant microplastic marine debris (MPMD) in the ocean surface boundary layer.
References
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