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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Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem
TL;DR: The concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an ‘ecocorona’, increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity is developed.
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Microplastics in the aquatic and terrestrial environment: sources (with a specific focus on personal care products), fate and effects.
Karen Duis,Anja Coors +1 more
TL;DR: Considering the persistence of microplastics in the environment, the high concentrations measured at some environmental sites and the prospective of strongly increasing concentrations, the release of plastics into the environment should be reduced in a broad and global effort regardless of a proof of an environmental risk.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastic is an Abundant and Distinct Microbial Habitat in an Urban River
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that microplastic in rivers are a distinct microbial habitat and may be a novel vector for the downstream transport of unique bacterial assemblages, and suggested that urban rivers are an overlooked and potentially significant component of the global microplastics life cycle.
Journal ArticleDOI
A global inventory of small floating plastic debris
Erik van Sebille,Erik van Sebille,Chris Wilcox,Laurent Lebreton,Nikolai Maximenko,Britta Denise Hardesty,Jan A. van Franeker,Marcus Eriksen,David A. Siegel,François Galgani,Kara Lavender Law +10 more
TL;DR: This paper used a rigorous statistical framework to standardize a global dataset of plastic marine debris measured using surface-trawling plankton nets and coupled this with three different ocean circulation models to spatially interpolate the observations.
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Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic
Laurent Lebreton,Boyan Slat,Francesco F. Ferrari,Bruno Sainte-Rose,Jen Aitken,Robert Marthouse,Sara Hajbane,Serena Cunsolo,Anna Schwarz,Aurore Levivier,K. Noble,Pavla Debeljak,H. Maral,R. Schoeneich-Argent,Roberto Brambini,Julia Reisser +15 more
TL;DR: A major ocean plastic accumulation zone formed in subtropical waters between California and Hawaii: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is characterised and quantified, suggesting that ocean plastic pollution within the GPGP is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.
References
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Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?
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