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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Optimization, performance, and application of a pyrolysis-GC/MS method for the identification of microplastics
Ludovic Hermabessiere,Charlotte Himber,Béatrice Boricaud,Maria Kazour,Rachid Amara,Anne-Laure Cassone,Michel Laurentie,Ika Paul-Pont,Philippe Soudant,Alexandre Dehaut,Guillaume Duflos +10 more
TL;DR: The present method is complementary to μ-Raman spectroscopy as Py-GC/MS identified pigment containing particles as plastic, and some fibers and all particles from sediment and sea surface were identified as plastic.
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Distribution characteristics of microplastics in the seawater and sediment: A case study in Jiaozhou Bay, China
Yifan Zheng,Jingxi Li,Wei Cao,Xuehai Liu,Fenghua Jiang,Jinfeng Ding,Xiaofei Yin,Chengjun Sun +7 more
TL;DR: Both the abundance and types of microplastics show positive correlations between the seawater and sediment samples, and microplastic polymer types in the bay showed close match to the polymertypes in the estuaries.
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Marine microplastic debris: a targeted plan for understanding and quantifying interactions with marine life
James R. Clark,James R. Clark,Matthew Cole,Matthew Cole,Penelope K. Lindeque,Elaine S. Fileman,Jeremy Blackford,Ceri Lewis,Timothy M. Lenton,Tamara S. Galloway +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the relative importance of different processes that control the spatial distribution and long-term fate of microplastics in the marine environment remains largely unknown, however, results from laboratory and field studies indicate that interactions between microplastic debris and marine organisms may play an important role in redistributing plastic in the oceans.
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Analysis of suspended microplastics in the Changjiang Estuary: Implications for riverine plastic load to the ocean.
TL;DR: The findings of this study provide reliable information on MP waste in a large river, which should be considered in further studies for estimating the riverine plastic loads.
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Microplastics pollution and reduction strategies
TL;DR: In this paper, a strategy for control of microplastics pollution should primarily focus on source reduction and subsequently on the development of cost-effective clean up and remediation technologies, especially in aquatic environments, such as the ocean.
References
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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.