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Quantifying the influence of size, shape, and density of microplastics on their transport modes: A modeling approach
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Researchers developed a computer model that predicts how microplastics of different sizes, shapes, and densities move through ocean water. The model accurately simulates whether particles float on the surface, stay suspended in the water column, or settle to the bottom. Understanding how microplastics travel through marine environments is important for predicting where contamination accumulates and which seafood sources are most likely to be affected.
Microplastics (MPs) pose significant risks to marine ecosystems and human health, necessitating accurate predictions of their distributions in aquatic environments for effective risk mitigation. However, understanding MP transport dynamics is challenging because of the inadequate representation of MP characteristics such as size, shape, and density in numerical models. Further, the accuracy of the MP vertical profiles in existing models has not been thoroughly validated. Thus, we developed an MP transport model within the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model framework (FVCOM-MP) by integrating MP characteristics. We validated FVCOM-MP against experimental and analytical data, focusing on various MP transport modes and transitions. FVCOM-MP successfully replicates MP profiles in different transport modes, including the bedload, surface load, suspended load, and mixed load modes. Additionally, we introduce phase diagrams for classifying MP transport modes based on particle characteristics, enhancing our understanding of MP dynamics in aquatic systems. The transport modes for a number of real-world MP particles, including fishing line, plastic bag/bottle fragments, synthetic fibers, tire wear particles, polyvinyl chloride and expanded polystyrene pellets, were analyzed with these phase diagrams.
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