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All is not lost: deriving a top-down mass budget of plastic at sea

Environmental research letters, 2017-11, Vol.12 (11), p.114028 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

2017 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd ;2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;Wageningen University & Research ;ISSN: 1748-9326 ;EISSN: 1748-9326 ;DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa9500 ;CODEN: ERLNAL

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  • Title:
    All is not lost: deriving a top-down mass budget of plastic at sea
  • Author: Koelmans, Albert A ; Kooi, Merel ; Law, Kara Lavender ; van Sebille, Erik
  • Subjects: Abundance ; Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management ; Aquatische Ecologie en Waterkwaliteitsbeheer ; Emission ; Emissions ; Fragmentation ; IMARES Onderzoeksformatie ; Leerstoelgroep Aquatische ecologie en waterkwaliteitsbeheer ; Marine debris ; Mass balance ; microplastic ; Microplastics ; ocean modeling ; Ocean surface ; Onderzoeksformatie ; plastic debris ; Plasticity ; Plastics ; Response time ; Simulation ; Surface area ; Surface layers ; Systems engineering ; Transport processes ; WIMEK
  • Is Part Of: Environmental research letters, 2017-11, Vol.12 (11), p.114028
  • Description: Understanding the global mass inventory is one of the main challenges in present research on plastic marine debris. Especially the fragmentation and vertical transport processes of oceanic plastic are poorly understood. However, whereas fragmentation rates are unknown, information on plastic emissions, concentrations of plastics in the ocean surface layer (OSL) and fragmentation mechanisms is available. Here, we apply a systems engineering analytical approach and propose a tentative 'whole ocean' mass balance model that combines emission data, surface area-normalized plastic fragmentation rates, estimated concentrations in the OSL, and removal from the OSL by sinking. We simulate known plastic abundances in the OSL and calculate an average whole ocean apparent surface area-normalized plastic fragmentation rate constant, given representative radii for macroplastic and microplastic. Simulations show that 99.8% of the plastic that had entered the ocean since 1950 had settled below the OSL by 2016, with an additional 9.4 million tons settling per year. In 2016, the model predicts that of the 0.309 million tons in the OSL, an estimated 83.7% was macroplastic, 13.8% microplastic, and 2.5% was < 0.335 mm 'nanoplastic'. A zero future emission simulation shows that almost all plastic in the OSL would be removed within three years, implying a fast response time of surface plastic abundance to changes in inputs. The model complements current spatially explicit models, points to future experiments that would inform critical model parameters, and allows for further validation when more experimental and field data become available.
  • Publisher: Bristol: IOP Publishing
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1748-9326
    EISSN: 1748-9326
    DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa9500
    CODEN: ERLNAL
  • Source: Open Access: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
    Freely Accessible Journals
    Open Access: IOP Publishing Free Content
    AUTh Library subscriptions: ProQuest Central
    IOPscience (Open Access)
    ROAD: Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources
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