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Data-Informed Models for the Coupled Dispersal of Microplastics and Related Pollutants Applied to the Mediterranean Sea
Summary
Researchers developed computational models to simulate how microplastics and associated chemical pollutants move together through the ocean, accounting for both physical transport and the uptake and release of organic chemicals on plastic surfaces. The models showed that microplastics can act as long-distance carriers for sorbed pollutants, delivering them to marine ecosystems far from their sources. Data-informed modeling of coupled microplastic-chemical transport is important for understanding the full scope of the ecological risk posed by ocean plastic pollution.
Abstract Microplastic pollution is a ubiquitous environmental threat, in particular to the oceans. In the marine environment, microplastics are not just passively transported by sea currents, but often get contaminated with organic pollutants during the journey. The uptake of chemicals onto microplastics can worsen the adverse effects of microplastics to marine organisms; however, investigation on this urgent phenomenon is hampered by the impossibility of monitoring and tracking such small plastic fragments during their motion at sea. This work aims at addressing the need for an effective modelling of the advection–diffusion processes jointly involving microplastics and the pollutants they carry to further our understanding of their spatiotemporal patterns and ecological impacts, focusing on the Mediterranean Sea. Here we present the conceptual design, methodological settings, and modelling results of a novel, data-informed 2D Lagrangian–Eulerian modelling framework that simultaneously describes (i) the Lagrangian dispersal of microplastic on the sea surface, (ii) the Eulerian advection–diffusion of selected organic contaminants, and (iii) the gradient-driven chemical exchanges between microplastic particles and chemical pollutants in the marine environment in a simple, yet comprehensive way. Crucial to the realism of our model is exploiting the wide variety and abundance of data linked with drivers of Mediterranean marine pollution by microplastics and chemicals, ranging from national censuses to satellite data of surface water runoff and GPS ship tracking, other than the use of oceanographic reanalyses to inform microplastics’ motion at sea. The results of our method applied to a multi-year simulation contribute to a first basin-wide assessment of the role of microplastics as a vehicle of other pollutants of concern in the marine environment. The framework proposed here is intended as a flexible tool to help advance knowledge towards a comprehensive description of the multifaceted threat of marine plastic pollution and an informed support to targeted mitigation policies.