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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Now, you see me: High concentrations of floating plastic debris in the coastal waters of the Balearic Islands (Spain).
TL;DR: The high plastic concentration values in the N-NW coast of Ibiza and Mallorca in sparsely populated locations suggest that the plastic particle distribution was mostly conditioned by the hydrodynamic surface conditions.
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Stakeholder perceptions of marine plastic waste management in the United Kingdom.
Grace McNicholas,Matthew Cotton +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ a Q-methodological study to address key stakeholder viewpoints from ENGO, government agency, retailer, marine science and citizen representatives in the UK, finding four distinct emergent discourses surrounding this topic, labelled: a) Socio-cultural visibility and responsibility, b) Dragons of inaction, c) Value-action gap, d) Refuting retailer responsibility.
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Surface water circulation develops seasonally changing patterns of floating litter accumulation in the Mediterranean Sea. A modelling approach
TL;DR: In this article, a set of different numerical model simulations were conducted to examine the dynamic conditions of the surface layer of the Mediterranean and how this drove the circulation and accumulation of floating litter.
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Impact of CeO2 nanoparticles on the aggregation kinetics and stability of polystyrene nanoplastics: Importance of surface functionalization and solution chemistry.
Xing Li,Erkai He,Bing Xia,Cornelis A.M. van Gestel,Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg,Xinde Cao,Hao Qiu +6 more
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the environmental behavior of nanoplastics is influenced by the presence of other non-plastic particles and improve the understanding of the interactions between PS-NPs and CeO2-Nps in complex and realistic aqueous environments.
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Eco-friendly magnetic biochar: An effective trap for nanoplastics of varying surface functionality and size in the aqueous environment
TL;DR: In this paper, the performance of iron-modified biochar pyrolyzed at two different temperatures, i.e., 550°C (FB-550) and 850°C(FB-850), with magnetic extractability for the easy and prompt removal of NPs of varying size and surface functionality was assessed.
References
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Microplastics in the marine environment
TL;DR: The mechanisms of generation and potential impacts of microplastics in the ocean environment are discussed, and the increasing levels of plastic pollution of the oceans are understood, it is important to better understand the impact of microPlastic in the Ocean food web.
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Richard C. Thompson,Ylva S. Olsen,Richard P. Mitchell,Anthony Davis,Steven J. Rowland,Anthony W. G. John,Daniel F. McGonigle,Andrea E. Russell +7 more
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TL;DR: Model calculations and experimental observations consistently show that polyethylene accumulates more organic contaminants than other plastics such as polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride, and PCBs could transfer from contaminated plastics to streaked shearwater chicks.