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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Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean
Jenna Jambeck,Roland Geyer,Chris Wilcox,Theodore R. Siegler,Miriam E. Perryman,Anthony L. Andrady,Ramani Narayan,Kara Lavender Law +7 more
TL;DR: This work combines available data on solid waste with a model that uses population density and economic status to estimate the amount of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean, which is estimated to be 275 million metric tons.
Supplementary Materials for Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean
Jenna Jambeck,Roland Geyer,Chris Wilcox,Theodore R. Siegler,Anthony L. Andrady,Ramani Narayan,Kara Lavender Law +6 more
Journal ArticleDOI
Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea
Marcus Eriksen,Laurent Lebreton,Henry S. Carson,Martin Thiel,Charles J. Moore,Jose C. Borerro,François Galgani,Peter G. Ryan,Julia Reisser +8 more
TL;DR: The total number of plastic particles and their weight floating in the world's oceans is estimated from 24 expeditions across all five sub-tropical gyres, costal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea conducting surface net tows and visual survey transects of large plastic debris.
Journal ArticleDOI
River plastic emissions to the world's oceans.
Laurent Lebreton,Joost Van Der Zwet,Jan Willem Damsteeg,Boyan Slat,Anthony L. Andrady,Julia Reisser +5 more
TL;DR: A global model of plastic inputs from rivers into oceans based on waste management, population density and hydrological information is presented to provide baseline data for ocean plastic mass balance exercises, and assist in prioritizing future plastic debris monitoring and mitigation strategies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments: Evaluating the current understanding to identify the knowledge gaps and future research priorities.
TL;DR: This review critically evaluates the current literature on the presence, behaviour and fate of microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments and, where appropriate, draws on relevant studies from other fields including nanotechnology, agriculture and waste management.
References
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Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches.
Hisashi Hirai,Hideshige Takada,Yuko Ogata,Rei Yamashita,Kaoruko Mizukawa,Mahua Saha,Charita S. Kwan,Charles J. Moore,Holly Gray,Duane Laursen,Erik R. Zettler,John W. Farrington,Christopher M. Reddy,Emily E. Peacock,Marc W. Ward +14 more
TL;DR: Nonylphenol, bisphenol A, and PBDEs came mainly from additives and were detected at high concentrations in some fragments both from remote and urban beaches and the open ocean, suggesting that PCBs are most probably derived from legacy pollution.
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Numerical modelling of floating debris in the world's oceans.
TL;DR: This study provides a framework for describing the transport, distribution and accumulation of floating marine debris and can be continuously updated and adapted to assess scenarios reflecting changes in the production and disposal of plastic worldwide.
Journal ArticleDOI
Large mesopelagic fishes biomass and trophic efficiency in the open ocean
Xabier Irigoien,Thor A. Klevjer,Anders Røstad,Udane Martinez,Guillermo Boyra,José Luis Acuña,Antonio Bode,Fidel Echevarría,J.I. González-Gordillo,Santiago Hernández-León,Susana Agustí,Susana Agustí,Dag L. Aksnes,Carlos M. Duarte,Carlos M. Duarte,Stein Kaartvedt +15 more
TL;DR: Modelling and a sensitivity analysis of the acoustic observations from the Malaspina 2010 Circumnavigation Expedition show that the previous estimate of mesopelagic fishes biomass needs to be revised to at least one order of magnitude higher, and there is a close relationship between the open ocean fishes biomass and primary production.
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Pathways of marine debris derived from trajectories of Lagrangian drifters.
TL;DR: The geography and structure of the collection regions are characterized and factors that determine their dynamics are discussed and a new scale R(c)=(4k/|D|)(½) is introduced to characterize tracer distribution under competing effects of horizontal divergence D and diffusion k.
Journal ArticleDOI
Marine litter distribution and density in European seas, from the shelves to deep basins.
Christopher K. Pham,Eva Ramirez-Llodra,Eva Ramirez-Llodra,Claudia H. S. Alt,Teresa Amaro,Melanie Bergmann,Miquel Canals,Jaime S. Davies,Gerard C.A. Duineveld,François Galgani,Kerry L. Howell,Veerle A.I. Huvenne,Eduardo Isidro,Daniel O.B. Jones,Galderic Lastras,Telmo Morato,José Nuno Gomes-Pereira,Autun Purser,Heather Stewart,Inês Tojeira,Xavier Tubau,David Van Rooij,Paul A. Tyler +22 more
TL;DR: Litter was found to be present in the deepest areas and at locations as remote from land as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and on ocean ridges.