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The Role of Stokes Drift in the Dispersal of North Atlantic Surface Marine Debris
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Researchers modeled the dispersal of floating marine debris in the North Atlantic using particle tracking models, finding that Stokes drift — wave-driven surface water transport — substantially accelerated beaching timescales and altered coastal accumulation patterns compared to models using Eulerian currents alone.
Understanding the physical mechanisms behind the transport and accumulation of floating objects in the ocean is crucial to efficiently tackle the issue of marine pollution. The main sinks of marine plastic are the coast and the bottom sediment. This study focuses on the former, investigating the timescales of dispersal from the ocean surface and onto coastal accumulation areas through a process called “beaching.” Previous studies found that the Stokes drift can reach the same magnitude as the Eulerian current speed and that it has a long-term effect on the trajectories of floating objects. Two particle tracking models (PTMs) are carried out and then compared, one with and one without Stokes drift, named PTM-SD and PTM-REF , respectively. Eulerian velocity and Stokes drift data from global reanalysis datasets are used for particle advection. Particles in the PTM-SD model are found to beach at a yearly rate that is double the rate observed in PTM-REF . The main coastal attractors are consistent with the direction of large-scale atmospheric circulation (Westerlies and Trade Winds). After 12 years (at the end of the run), the amount of beached particles is 20% larger in PTM-SD than in PTM-REF . Long-term predictions carried out with the aid of adjacency matrices found that after 100 years all particles have beached in PTM-SD , while 8% of the all seeded particles are still floating in PTM-REF . The results confirm the need to accurately represent the Stokes drift in particle models attempting to predict the behaviour of marine debris, in order to avoid overestimation of its residence time in the ocean and effectively guide policies toward prevention and removal.
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This study used high-resolution coupled ocean-wave model simulations in the Mediterranean Sea to examine how surface waves affect marine particle dispersal relevant to plastic pollution tracking. Results show that Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents have opposing seasonal effects on drift speed, and that approximating wave impacts using Stokes drift alone may not improve dispersal estimates.
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A particle-tracking ocean model for the Sea of Japan showed that surface currents, wind waves, and Stokes drift all influence the distribution of floating microplastics, with model outputs matching field survey data. The study demonstrates the value of combining wave dynamics with current models to predict where microplastics accumulate in coastal seas.
The Role of the Unsteady Surface Wave‐Driven Ekman–Stokes Flow in the Accumulation of Floating Marine Litter
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Researchers modeled the role of wave-driven Ekman-Stokes flow in the accumulation of floating marine debris, finding that this near-surface current mechanism significantly influences where plastic litter concentrates at sea, with implications for predicting and targeting ocean cleanup efforts.
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An ocean circulation model incorporating biological and physical processes found that near-surface currents, including wind-driven surface drift and wave-induced mixing, play a major role in dispersing buoyant microplastics globally, with plastic accumulating preferentially in subtropical convergence zones. The model improves understanding of how ocean physics shapes global microplastic distribution patterns.
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Researchers used six surface drifter trajectories in the Southern Indian Ocean, combined with Lagrangian particle simulations that incorporate Stokes drift, to map a plastic convergence zone in the western basin fed by the Agulhas Return Current and South Equatorial Current—filling a major gap in understanding where buoyant debris accumulates in this under-monitored ocean.
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