The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study 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...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Copernicus GmbH
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52558 |
| _version_ | 1848758955639046144 |
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| author | Reisser, J. Slat, B. Noble, K. du Plessis, K. Epp, M. Proietti, M. de Sonneville, J. Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, C. |
| author_facet | Reisser, J. Slat, B. Noble, K. du Plessis, K. Epp, M. Proietti, M. de Sonneville, J. Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, C. |
| author_sort | Reisser, J. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| 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 (milligrams m-3) than numerical concentration (pieces m-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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:52:13Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-52558 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:52:13Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Copernicus GmbH |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-525582021-01-25T05:46:41Z The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre Reisser, J. Slat, B. Noble, K. du Plessis, K. Epp, M. Proietti, M. de Sonneville, J. Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, C. 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 (milligrams m-3) than numerical concentration (pieces m-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. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52558 10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Copernicus GmbH unknown |
| spellingShingle | Reisser, J. Slat, B. Noble, K. du Plessis, K. Epp, M. Proietti, M. de Sonneville, J. Becker, Thomas Pattiaratchi, C. The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title | The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title_full | The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title_fullStr | The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title_full_unstemmed | The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title_short | The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre |
| title_sort | vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the north atlantic gyre |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52558 |