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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Aggregation of slightly buoyant microplastics in 3D vortex flows
ClearAggregation of Slightly Buoyant Microplastics in Three-Dimensional Vortex Flows
This modeling study found that slightly buoyant microplastics preferentially accumulate in vorticity-dominated regions below the ocean surface in three-dimensional eddy flows. This explains why microplastics are found throughout the water column rather than just at the surface, and has implications for their ingestion by organisms at various depths.
Supplementary material to "Aggregation of Slightly Buoyant Microplastics in Three-Dimensional Vortex Flows"
This is the supplementary mathematical appendix for the study on buoyant microplastic aggregation in three-dimensional vortex flows. The mathematical framework describes how microplastic particles with slight buoyancy deviate from fluid streamlines and accumulate in ocean eddy regions.
A Theory for Attractors of Microplastic Particles in the Resonant Structures of a 3D Eddy
Researchers developed a theoretical framework predicting the existence and location of attractors for microplastic particles in three-dimensional ocean eddy flows, demonstrating how resonant structures created by non-symmetric disturbances generate additional trapping orbits for slightly buoyant particles using Maxey-Riley equation simulations.
A Theory for Attractors of Microplastic Particles in the Resonant Structures of a 3D Eddy
Researchers developed a theoretical framework predicting the existence and location of attractors for microplastic particles in three-dimensional ocean eddy flows, demonstrating how resonant structures created by non-symmetric disturbances generate additional trapping orbits for slightly buoyant particles using Maxey-Riley equation simulations.
On Clustering of Floating Tracers in Random Velocity Fields
This mathematical modeling study explores how floating particles — including microplastics — cluster into dense patches on the ocean surface under turbulent currents, finding that realistic time-correlated ocean flows produce clusters far faster than simpler models predict. Understanding this clustering behavior is important for accurately assessing where microplastic pollution concentrates in the ocean and how organisms encounter it at ecologically meaningful densities.
Clustering of buoyant tracer in quasi-geostrophic coherent structures
Using Lagrangian particle tracking in a turbulent quasi-geostrophic ocean model, researchers found that buoyant floating tracers cluster inside coherent vortex structures due to ageostrophic circulation effects, with implications for understanding how surface plastic debris concentrates in ocean eddies.
Comment on egusphere-2023-1624
This comment paper examines the subsurface transport of microplastics in the ocean, modeled within the Maxey-Riley framework for particle movement in fluids. Understanding how buoyant microplastics aggregate and move below the sea surface is important for predicting their environmental fate and ecological impact.
A theory for attractors of microplastic particles in the resonant structures of a 3D eddy
Researchers developed a theoretical framework predicting the formation of attractors — closed-loop trajectories — for microplastic particles within the resonant structures of three-dimensional ocean eddies. The theory establishes criteria for when such attractors exist and provides a mechanism explaining observed accumulation of small rigid particles in recirculating oceanic flows.
Maxey-Riley advection leads to enhanced spatial variability of buoyant macroplastic on the north-west European shelf seas
Researchers used Lagrangian analysis incorporating the Maxey-Riley equation to investigate how the inertia of buoyant macroplastic particles affects their transport trajectories on the north-west European shelf seas, finding that accounting for particle inertia leads to enhanced spatial variability compared to standard fluid-following advection models.
The dynamics of biofouled particles in vortical flows
Researchers modeled how biofouling — the growth of organisms on plastic surfaces — affects the movement of microplastic particles in vortex-dominated ocean flows. Biofouled particles with increasing density tended to accumulate in specific flow zones compared to clean particles. Understanding these dynamics is important for predicting where biofouled microplastics ultimately sink and accumulate in the ocean.
Sedimentation and shear-induced dynamics of spheroids in fluids with spatial viscosity variations
Researchers used a generalized reciprocal theorem approach to analytically model how spheroid-shaped particles—relevant to elongated microplastics—settle and rotate in viscosity-stratified fluids. The analysis provides theoretical predictions for how viscosity gradients in natural water columns affect the transport dynamics of non-spherical microplastic particles.
Particle dispersion and clustering in surface ocean turbulence with ageostrophic dynamics
This paper is not directly about microplastics; it uses numerical ocean simulations to model how small-scale turbulence and ageostrophic dynamics affect the clustering and dispersion of floating particles at the ocean surface, with relevance to understanding how marine debris concentrates in convergence zones.
Large eddy simulations of the accumulation of buoyant material in oceanic wind-driven and convective turbulence
Researchers used large eddy simulations to show that buoyant materials like microplastics accumulate at specific ocean surface zones driven by convergent currents under both wind-driven and convective turbulence, improving understanding of how plastics concentrate at the sea surface.
A first-principle mechanism for particulate aggregation and self-assembly in stratified fluids
Researchers discovered and mathematically modeled a surprising phenomenon where particles suspended in layered (stratified) fluids spontaneously attract each other and self-organize into disc-like aggregates without any sticky coating — a fundamental finding that helps explain how particles like microplastics and marine debris may clump together in stratified ocean layers.
Vertical transport of buoyant microplastic particles in the ocean: The role of turbulence and biofouling
Researchers modeled how turbulence and biofouling interact to determine the vertical movement of buoyant microplastic particles in the ocean. They identified three distinct flow regimes that govern whether microplastics stay at the surface, oscillate, or sink to the seafloor. The study helps explain the observation that even low-density microplastics are found in deep ocean sediments, suggesting biofouling-driven density changes are a key transport mechanism.
Submesoscale eddies and their potential for buoyant microplastic accumulation
This study investigates how small ocean eddies called submesoscale eddies can trap and concentrate buoyant microplastics below the water surface, not just at the top. Using both physical oceanographic measurements and laboratory experiments, researchers found that these rotating water masses create subsurface attractors that pull floating particles downward. This matters because it helps explain why microplastics are found throughout the water column rather than only at the surface, complicating efforts to clean up or track ocean plastic pollution.
Sinking microplastics in the water column: simulations in the Mediterranean Sea
Researchers simulated the vertical dispersion and distribution of negatively buoyant microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea using a realistic circulation model, evaluating how inertia, Coriolis force, turbulence, and variable seawater density affect sinking trajectories and accumulation zones.
Microplastics segregation by rise velocity at the ocean surface
This study modeled the competing forces of particle buoyancy and turbulent mixing that control the vertical distribution of microplastics in the ocean surface layer, finding that particle rise velocity is the key variable that segregates plastic types and determines how they distribute relative to surface and subsurface measurements.
On the vertical structure of non-buoyant plastics in turbulent transport
Researchers investigated how non-floating plastic debris moves through river-like flows and found that plastics settle in unique, complex patterns due to their irregular shapes. In low-turbulence conditions, interactions between the plastic particles and the riverbed enhanced mixing beyond what standard sediment transport models would predict. The study proposes a new equation for describing how plastics are distributed vertically in flowing water.
The Fluid Mechanics of Ocean Microplastics
This review examined the fluid mechanics governing microplastic transport in marine environments, covering buoyancy, Stokes drift, turbulence, and biofouling effects across scales from surface films to deep-sea accumulation zones. The authors identified key knowledge gaps in predicting vertical transport and small-scale aggregation processes.
Comment on egusphere-2023-1624
This modeling study examined how microplastics aggregate and move below the ocean surface, finding that buoyant plastic particles can be concentrated in vorticity-dominated regions. Understanding subsurface microplastic transport is important for predicting where plastic accumulates and how it enters marine food webs.
Modeling the settling and resuspension of microplastics in rivers: Effect of particle properties and flow conditions
Researchers developed a mathematical model to simulate how microplastics of different shapes settle and resuspend in rivers, moving beyond the common assumption that all particles are spherical. They found that turbulence has a complex effect, sometimes keeping particles suspended longer and sometimes accelerating their settling, depending on flow conditions. The model reveals that particle shape significantly influences where microplastics end up in river systems.
The Role of Ekman Currents, Geostrophy, and Stokes Drift in the Accumulation of Floating Microplastic
Researchers modeled the roles of Ekman currents, geostrophic flow, Stokes drift, and mesoscale eddies in concentrating floating microplastic in subtropical gyres, finding that wind-driven Ekman transport is the dominant accumulation mechanism.
Plastic drift : Mapping the course of microplastic transport in turbulent riverine flows.
Researchers investigated the transport dynamics of 24 negatively buoyant microplastic particles across a spectrum of sizes, shapes, and densities using a 3D particle tracking system in turbulent open channel flow, generating 720 trajectories. They found that particle shape was the dominant determinant of transport behavior, with fibers tending to remain near the water surface at lower forward velocities while spheres stayed closer to the bed with higher forward velocities.