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    Plastic debris in the open ocean

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    Type
    Article
    Authors
    Cozar, Andres
    Echevarría, Fidel cc
    Gonzaĺez-Gordillo, Juan Ignácio
    Irigoien, Xabier cc
    Úbeda, Bárbara
    Hernandez-Leon, Santiago
    Palma, Álvaro T.
    Navarro, Sandra
    García-de-Lomas, Juan cc
    Ruiz, Andrea
    Fernández De Puelles, Ma Luz
    Duarte, Carlos M. cc
    KAUST Department
    Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
    Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
    Marine Science Program
    Plankton ecology Research Group
    Date
    2014-06-30
    Online Publication Date
    2014-06-30
    Print Publication Date
    2014-07-15
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/10754/563613
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.
    Citation
    Cozar, A., Echevarria, F., Gonzalez-Gordillo, J. I., Irigoien, X., Ubeda, B., Hernandez-Leon, S., … Duarte, C. M. (2014). Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(28), 10239–10244. doi:10.1073/pnas.1314705111
    Sponsors
    We thank Pakea Bizkaia and the Chilean Navy, which contributed to the sample collection, and K. L. Law, M. C. Goldstein, M. J. Doyle, M. Eriksen, J. Reisser, and their collaborators for their available data. We also thank S. Loiselle and J. Ruiz for his useful suggestions in writing the paper. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Malaspina 2010 expedition project (Consolider-Ingenio 2010, CSD2008-00077) and the Migrants and Active Flux in the Atlantic Ocean project (CTM2012-39587-C04-01). Original data reported in this paper are freely available at http://metamalaspina.imedea.uib-csic.es/geonetwork. This is Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR) Publication 58.
    Publisher
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
    Journal
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
    DOI
    10.1073/pnas.1314705111
    PubMed ID
    24982135
    PubMed Central ID
    PMC4104848
    Additional Links
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4104848
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.1073/pnas.1314705111
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    Articles; Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division; Red Sea Research Center (RSRC); Marine Science Program

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