We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Aggregation and transport of microplastics by a cold-core ring in the southern recirculation of the Kuroshio Extension: the role of mesoscale eddies on plastic debris distribution
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers conducted shipboard surveys of floating microplastics within a cyclonic mesoscale eddy in the Kuroshio Extension. The study found that cold-core rings can aggregate and transport microplastics, suggesting that mesoscale ocean eddies may play a significant role in redistributing plastic debris across large ocean areas.
Abstract Mesoscale eddies – ocean vortices with spatial scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers and time scales of months to years – are among the most energetic forms of flow in the ocean, and may act as significant transporters of floating microplastics. Yet, shipboard observation has thus far not clarified the abundance and transport of microplastics in mesoscale eddies. We conducted floating microplastic surveys in an intense cyclonic mesoscale eddy with a large sea surface height depression (approximately 0.8 m), a so-called cold-core ring, in the Kuroshio Extension recirculation gyre (KERG) southeast of Japan. The concentration of microplastics within the eddy (460 × 10 4 pieces/km 2 ) was one or two orders of magnitude higher than in the adjacent oceanic waters, likely due to the acquisition of microplastics from the microplastic-rich Kuroshio Extension (KE) when detaching, as well as the horizontal entrainment of particles by the eddy. Our examination by using an assimilation product showed that most particles captured by the eddy remained within for several months while the eddy moved clockwise in the KERG. These results suggest that mesoscale eddies are of importance in the transportation and redistribution of microplastics on the ocean surface.
More Papers Like This
Assessing the microplastic retention and distribution in the water column in mesoscale eddies south of the Canary Islands
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers conducted the first in situ observations of microplastic concentrations within mesoscale eddies south of the Canary Islands, finding that these oceanographic structures influence the vertical distribution and retention of microplastics in the water column. The study provides new evidence that mesoscale eddies act as accumulation zones, affecting how microplastics are transported and redistributed in the open ocean.
Assessing the microplastic retention and distribution in the water column in mesoscale eddies south of the Canary Islands
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers conducted the first in situ observations of microplastic concentrations and vertical distribution within mesoscale ocean eddies south of the Canary Islands, investigating how these rotating current structures retain and redistribute microplastics through the water column.
Impact of ocean dynamics on microplastics distribution in two oceanic eddies
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers sampled microplastic distributions within an anticyclonic and a cyclonic oceanic eddy downstream of the Canary Islands during 2021 and 2022 campaigns, finding that eddy circulation patterns concentrate microplastics differently depending on eddy rotation direction and that eddies act as dynamic accumulation zones.
Anticyclonic eddies increase accumulation of microplastic in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers found that anticyclonic eddies significantly increase the accumulation of microplastics in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, using in situ measurements combined with satellite observations and modelling to reveal eddy-driven convergence as a key mechanism controlling microplastic distribution.
Influence of Mesoscale Eddies on the Three-Dimensional Distribution of Microplastics in the Western North Pacific
AI summary Read the abstract
Scientists found that swirling ocean currents called eddies control where tiny plastic particles collect in the Pacific Ocean, with some areas concentrating plastics as deep as 600 meters underwater. This discovery helps us better understand how microplastics spread through the ocean and could improve predictions of where these pollutants end up in seafood and marine ecosystems. Understanding plastic distribution patterns is important because microplastics can work their way up the food chain and potentially affect human health through the fish we eat.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.