The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre
Millimetre-sized plastics are numerically abundant and widespread across the world’s ocean surface. These buoyant macroscopic particles can be mixed within the upper water column by turbulent transport. Models indicate that the largest decrease in their concentration occurs within the first few metr...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/5819 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 |
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ftunivfurg:oai:repositorio.furg.br:1/5819 2023-11-12T04:21:56+01:00 The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre Reisser, Julia Wiener Slat, Boyan Noble, Kimberly Denise Plessis, Katherine Du Epp, Meredith Proietti, Maíra Carneiro Sonneville, Jan de Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, Charitha 2015 application/pdf http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/5819 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 eng eng REISSER, Julia Wiener et al. The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre. Biogeosciences, v.12, n.4, p. 1249–1256,2015. Disponível em: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272823313_The_vertical_distribution_of_buoyant_plastics_at_sea_An_observational_study_in_the_North_Atlantic_Gyre>. Acesso em 19 Jan 2016. 1726-4189 http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/5819 doi:10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 open access article 2015 ftunivfurg https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 2023-10-24T21:01:25Z Millimetre-sized plastics are numerically abundant and widespread across the world’s ocean surface. These buoyant macroscopic particles can be mixed within the upper water column by turbulent transport. Models indicate that the largest decrease in their concentration occurs within the first few metres of water, where in situ observations are very scarce. In order to investigate the depth profile and physical properties of buoyant plastic debris, we used a new type of multi-level trawl at 12 sites within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre to sample from the air–seawater interface to a depth of 5 m, at 0.5m intervals. Our results show that plastic concentrations drop exponentially with water depth, and decay rates decrease with increasing Beaufort number. Furthermore, smaller pieces presented lower rise velocities and were more susceptible to vertical transport. This resulted in higher depth decays of plastic mass concentration (milligramsm????����3) than numerical concentration (piecesm????����3). Further multilevel sampling of plastics will improve our ability to predict at-sea plastic load, size distribution, drifting pattern, and impact on marine species and habitats. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic RI FURG (Repositório da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande) Biogeosciences 12 4 1249 1256 |
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RI FURG (Repositório da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande) |
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ftunivfurg |
language |
English |
description |
Millimetre-sized plastics are numerically abundant and widespread across the world’s ocean surface. These buoyant macroscopic particles can be mixed within the upper water column by turbulent transport. Models indicate that the largest decrease in their concentration occurs within the first few metres of water, where in situ observations are very scarce. In order to investigate the depth profile and physical properties of buoyant plastic debris, we used a new type of multi-level trawl at 12 sites within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre to sample from the air–seawater interface to a depth of 5 m, at 0.5m intervals. Our results show that plastic concentrations drop exponentially with water depth, and decay rates decrease with increasing Beaufort number. Furthermore, smaller pieces presented lower rise velocities and were more susceptible to vertical transport. This resulted in higher depth decays of plastic mass concentration (milligramsm????����3) than numerical concentration (piecesm????����3). Further multilevel sampling of plastics will improve our ability to predict at-sea plastic load, size distribution, drifting pattern, and impact on marine species and habitats. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reisser, Julia Wiener Slat, Boyan Noble, Kimberly Denise Plessis, Katherine Du Epp, Meredith Proietti, Maíra Carneiro Sonneville, Jan de Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, Charitha |
spellingShingle |
Reisser, Julia Wiener Slat, Boyan Noble, Kimberly Denise Plessis, Katherine Du Epp, Meredith Proietti, Maíra Carneiro Sonneville, Jan de Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, Charitha The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
author_facet |
Reisser, Julia Wiener Slat, Boyan Noble, Kimberly Denise Plessis, Katherine Du Epp, Meredith Proietti, Maíra Carneiro Sonneville, Jan de Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, Charitha |
author_sort |
Reisser, Julia Wiener |
title |
The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
title_short |
The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
title_full |
The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
title_fullStr |
The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
title_full_unstemmed |
The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre |
title_sort |
vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the north atlantic gyre |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/5819 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
REISSER, Julia Wiener et al. The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observationalstudy in the North Atlantic Gyre. Biogeosciences, v.12, n.4, p. 1249–1256,2015. Disponível em: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272823313_The_vertical_distribution_of_buoyant_plastics_at_sea_An_observational_study_in_the_North_Atlantic_Gyre>. Acesso em 19 Jan 2016. 1726-4189 http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/5819 doi:10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 |
op_rights |
open access |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
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12 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1249 |
op_container_end_page |
1256 |
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1782337136314286080 |