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
Reads0
Chats0
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
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
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
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Marine birds and plastic pollution
MY Azzarello,ES Van Vleet +1 more
TL;DR: The intrinsic properties and widespread presence of plastic particles in the marine environment have profound effects on birds inhabiting the world's oceans as discussed by the authors, and birds in the order Proceariiformes are most vulnerable to the effects of plastic ingeshon due to their smaller gizzard and their inability to regurgitate ingested plastics.
Journal ArticleDOI
As main meal for sperm whales: Plastics debris
TL;DR: The problem of plastics arising from greenhouse agriculture should have a relevant section in the conservation plans and should be a recommendation from ACCOBAMS due to these plastics' and sperm whales' high mobility in the Mediterranean Sea.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plastic for dinner? Observations of frequent debris ingestion by pelagic predatory fishes from the central North Pacific
CA Choy,Jeffrey C. Drazen +1 more
TL;DR: Ingested debris pieces were found to be positively buoyant in seawa- ter mimicking different depths, and suggest that more attention should be given to marine debris in subsurface waters as well as to poorly understood organismal and food web implications.
Journal ArticleDOI
Turbulence increases the average settling velocity of phytoplankton cells.
TL;DR: Phytoplankton settling velocity increases when turbulence intensifies from the low to the higher values recorded in the upper mixed layers of lakes and oceans, resulting in an environmental stress that can only be avoided through morphological and/or physiological adaptations.