Influence of waves on the three-dimensional distribution of plastic in the ocean
Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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Date | 2023-02 | ||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||
Author(s) | Bajon Raphael1, Huck Thierry2, Grima Nicolas2, Maes Christophe4, Blanke Bruno2, Richon Camille3, Couvelard Xavier3 | ||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (UMR 6523 LOPS), Univ. Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, IUEM, Technopole Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France 2 : Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (UMR 6523 LOPS), Univ. Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, IUEM, Technopole Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France 3 : Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (UMR 6523 LOPS), Univ. Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, IUEM, Technopole Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France 4 : Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (UMR 6523 LOPS), Univ. Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, IUEM, Technopole Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France |
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Source | Marine Pollution Bulletin (0025-326X) (Elsevier BV), 2023-02 , Vol. 187 , P. 114533 (11p.) | ||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114533 | ||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 4 | ||||||||||||
Keyword(s) | Microplastics, Marine debris, Plastic discharge, Ocean-wave coupling, Stokes drift, Three-dimensional circulation | ||||||||||||
Abstract | The world's oceans are facing plastic pollution, 80 % of which of terrestrial origin flowing from the mismanaged waste of coastal populations and from river discharge. To study the fate of this pollution, the three-dimensional trajectories of neutral plastic particles continuously released for 24 years according to realistic source scenarios are computed using currents from a global ocean-wave coupled model at resolution and from a reference ocean-only model. These Lagrangian simulations show that neutral particles accumulate at the surface in the subtropical convergence zones from where they penetrate to about 250 m depth and strongly disperse over 40∘ of latitude. About 5.3 % of the particles remain at the surface with the wave-coupled model currents, whereas only 2 % for the uncoupled model, with some modulation in the location of the convergence zones. Increased surface retention results from upward vertical velocities induced by widespread divergence of waves-induced Stokes transport in the surface layers. |
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