Detecting Japan tsunami marine debris at sea: a synthesis of efforts and lessons learned. Shaw, D. Surface circulation and the distribution of pelagic tar and plastic.
Day, R. Patterns in the abundance of pelagic plastic and tar in the north Pacific Ocean, — Goldstein, M. Increased oceanic microplastic debris enhances oviposition in an endemic pelagic insect. Moore, C.
A comparison of plastic and plankton in the North Pacific central gyre. Koelmans, A. Nanoplastics in the aquatic environment. Woodall, L. The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris. R Soc. Open Sci. Galgani, F. Litter on the sea floor along European coasts. Yoon, J. Modeling of marine litter drift and beaching in the Japan Sea. Carson, H. Small plastic debris changes water movement and heat transfer through beach sediments.
Laist, D. Impacts of marine debris: entanglement of marine life in marine debris including a comprehensive list of species with entanglement and ingestion records in Marine debris , sources , impacts , and solutions eds Coe J. Fazey, F. Biofouling on buoyant marine plastics: An experimental study into the effect of size on surface longevity.
Long, M. Interactions between microplastics and phytoplankton aggregates: impact on their respective fates. Characterization of municipal solid waste in the United States: update. Kalogerakis, N. Microplastics generation: onset of fragmentation of polyethylene films in marine environment mesocosms.
International Coastal Cleanup. Tracking trash - 25 years of action for the ocean. Polasek, L. Marine debris in five national parks in Alaska. Sources, fate and effects of microplastics in the marine environment: part two of a global assessment eds Kershaw, P. Brandon, J. Long-term aging and degradation of microplastic particles: Comparing in situ oceanic and experimental weathering patterns.
Berg, H. Random Walks in Biology. Princeton University Press, Remote sensing of marine debris to study dynamics, balances and trends. Satellite-respondent buoys identify ocean debris.
Download references. The authors thank The Ocean Cleanup donors and specifically the people who participated in the crowd funding campaign who helped fund this research. Lebreton, B. Slat, F. Ferrari, B. Sainte-Rose, S. Hajbane, S. Cunsolo, A. Schwarz, A. Levivier, K. Noble, P. Debeljak, H. Maral, R. Schoeneich-Argent, R. Teledyne Optech, Inc.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. All authors reviewed the manuscript. Correspondence to L. Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Reprints and Permissions. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic.
Sci Rep 8, Download citation. Received : 17 October Accepted : 05 March Published : 22 March Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative.
Microplastics and Nanoplastics Environmental Sciences Europe Sustainable Earth Nature Human Behaviour Scientific Reports By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines.
If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate. Advanced search. Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature.
Download PDF. Subjects Computational science Environmental sciences Ocean sciences. Introduction Global annual plastic consumption has now reached over million tonnes with more plastic produced in the last decade than ever before 1.
Figure 1. Full size image. Figure 2. Results Ocean plastic loads and characteristics Plastics were by far the most dominant type of marine litter found, representing more than Figure 3.
Table 1 Mass and numerical load per ocean plastic type and size within the 1. Full size table. Figure 4. Table 2 Mean observed mass and numerical concentrations within the 1. Figure 5. Figure 6. Discussion This study provides a detailed quantification and characterization of ocean plastic within a major oceanic plastic pollution hotspot: the GPGP.
Data-availability All datasets associated with this manuscript are available on Figshare References 1. Article Google Scholar 6. Article Google Scholar 7. Article Google Scholar 8. Google Scholar 9. Marine garbage patches such as the one in the Pacific are large areas where debris collects, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The aquatic piles are formed by rotating currents called "gyres," which are like "big whirlpools that pull objects in. There are five gyres in the ocean — one in the Indian, two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific — and each gyre contains garbage patches of different sizes. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the most famous of these piles. Jenny works by two boats slowly guiding a U-shaped barrier through the polluted area. According to the organization, the circulating currents in the garbage patch move the plastic around, and their system helps guide that plastic into the system's retention zone.
Once the system is full, workers empty the plastic on the marine vessel. After they gather as much debris as they can during the excursion, workers take the plastic to shore to recycle, and The Ocean Cleanup reuses some of the materials gathered to make products. The Ocean Cleanup also designed the system to be animal friendly.
The boats tow it at roughly 1. The data and imagery gathered from these objectives was eventually used by our team of computational modelers to build various models and computer-generated graphics.
These served as a visual representation of the studies and tests that had been performed from the expeditions. Science of this nature is crucial when understanding the many facets of the GPGP.
These models have helped the engineers at The Ocean Cleanup to further improve the design of the cleanup system, which is set to be deployed mid What is the great pacific garbage patch? How much plastic floats in the great pacific garbage patch? What types of plastic float in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch What are the effects on marine life and humans?
How did The Ocean Cleanup conduct its research? Concentration Using data from multiple reconnaissance missions, a mass concentration model was produced to visualize the plastic distribution in the patch. Modelled mass concentration By size classes. Vertical distribution The Ocean Cleanup measured the vertical distribution of plastic during six expeditions between to Persistency Characteristics of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, such as plastic type and age, prove that plastic has the capacity to persist in this region.
Source: The Ocean Cleanup 02 - This hard hat dates back to Source: The Ocean Cleanup. Size classes Plastic within the patch was categorized into four size classes: — Microplastics 0. Categorization types Once the plastics were collected, a team of volunteers classified the plastic into: — Type H: Hard plastic, plastic sheet or film; — Type N: Plastic lines, ropes, and fishing nets; — Type P: Pre-production plastics cylinders, spheres or disks ; — Type F: Fragments made of foamed materials.
Photo credits: The Ocean Cleanup. Why large debris matter Because the plastics have been shown to persist in this region, they will likely break down into smaller plastics while floating in the GPGP. Impact on wildlife Plastic has increasingly become a ubiquitous substance in the ocean. Photo credits: Matthew Chauvin. Impact on Humans and Society Once plastic enters the marine food web, there is a possibility that it will contaminate the human food chain as well.
Affects the Human Foodchain Through a process called bioaccumulation, chemicals in plastics will enter the body of the animal feeding on the plastic, and as the feeder becomes prey, the chemicals will pass to the predator — making their way up the food web that includes humans.
Footage credits: The Ocean Cleanup. Ocean Research Laboratory Once the ocean plastic was brought back to the Netherlands, it then needed to be counted, classified and analyzed. Counting and Classifying The first step in analyzing the plastic was to quantify it — to turn this physical matter into data. Understanding Physical Properties Not only is the size and count of the plastic in the GPGP important to calculate, but the way in which the plastic interacts in the water helps the team learn more about the buoyancy and depths of the plastic.
Understanding Toxicity It is commonly known that harmful PBT Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic chemicals are found in ocean plastics, so researchers at The Ocean Cleanup tested plastic samples from the expeditions for their chemical levels.
Ocean Plastic Data Science Numerous computational and mathematical processes and methods were used throughout the study of the GPGP, allowing the team to visualize and characterize many features of the patch and the plastic within it.
Turning Ocean Plastic into Data When the manta trawls samples were captured and then brought on the vessel, several criteria were noted in the datasheets, including the date, duration, and final coordinates of each tow. Post-processing of aerial images. Photo credits: The Ocean Cleanup There were 3 sensor technicians, 7 navigation personnel and 10 researchers who helped track the plastic from above and monitor the equipment on board.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum. Wind turbines have a service life of around 20 years. After that, they can be retired and reused for other purposes such as bike shelters.
I accept. The Ocean Cleanup has been collecting plastic waste using a metre floating barrier. Take action on UpLink. UpLink — Take Action for Ocean. Forum in focus. Read more about this project. Explore context. Explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis.
Environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup has been collecting plastic waste using a metre floating barrier. The first haul of waste, cleared from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has been returned to shore.
0コメント