Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2023-1624

This comment paper revisits subsurface microplastic transport in the ocean using fluid dynamics modeling frameworks. Understanding how buoyant plastic particles accumulate in subsurface ocean regions informs our understanding of microplastic exposure in marine ecosystems at different depth layers.

2023
Article Tier 2

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.

2023
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2023-1624

This peer comment discusses a mathematical modeling study of how microplastics move and accumulate below the ocean surface in three-dimensional eddies. The commenter engages with the theoretical framework governing particle movement in regions of fluid vorticity.

2023
Article Tier 2

Aggregation 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.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2023-1624

This peer comment discusses a theoretical study of subsurface microplastic aggregation in ocean eddies using fluid dynamics models. Multiple reviewer comments on the same paper are recorded as separate entries in this dataset.

2023
Article Tier 2

Vertical distribution of weakly inertial, quasi-neutrally buoyant particles in a convective ocean mixed layer

Scientists used computer models to study how tiny plastic particles move up and down in ocean water. They found that these microplastics don't just float at the surface—they can get trapped at specific depths where ocean currents and temperature changes create "collection zones." This matters because it helps explain where microplastics accumulate in the ocean, which could affect marine food chains and ultimately the seafood we eat.

2026
Article Tier 2

Passive buoyant tracers in the ocean surface boundary layer: 2. Observations and simulations of microplastic marine debris

Using ocean computer models calibrated against real-world observations, this study showed how wave mixing and other physical processes push buoyant microplastics below the ocean surface, explaining why less plastic is detected at the surface than expected. These models are critical for estimating where microplastic pollution is truly accumulating in the ocean.

2015 Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 82 citations
Article Tier 2

A Numerical Model Approach Toward a Settling Process and Feedback Loop of Ocean Microplastics Absorbed Into Phytoplankton Aggregates

Researchers developed a numerical model to simulate how buoyant microplastics are absorbed into sinking phytoplankton aggregates during algal blooms, causing them to settle toward the seafloor at measurable rates. The model successfully reproduced observed vertical profiles of microplastic abundance in the ocean, including subsurface concentration peaks that simple buoyancy models cannot explain. This work clarifies an important mechanism by which microplastics are transported from the ocean surface to deep sediments, where they accumulate long-term.

2023 Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 11 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Environmental Pollution 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantifying the influence of size, shape, and density of microplastics on their transport modes: A modeling approach

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.

2024 Marine Pollution Bulletin 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Ups and Downs in the Ocean: Effects of Biofouling on Vertical Transport of Microplastics

Researchers developed the first theoretical model to simulate how biofouling, the growth of microbial biofilms on plastic surfaces, affects the vertical movement of microplastics in the ocean. The model predicts that depending on particle size and density, fouled microplastics may float, sink to the seafloor, or oscillate at intermediate depths. These findings help explain why small microplastics seem to disappear from the ocean surface and suggest they may concentrate at mid-water depths where vulnerable species live.

2017 Environmental Science & Technology 877 citations
Article Tier 2

Modeling of vertical microplastic transport by rising bubbles

This study modeled the vertical transport of microplastic particles by rising bubbles in the ocean, finding that bubble-mediated transport significantly enhances surface concentration of microplastics and helps explain why surface measurements often show higher particle densities than bulk water predictions suggest.

2023 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 19 citations
Article Tier 2

The effect of wind mixing on the vertical distribution of buoyant plastic debris

Researchers modeled and measured how wind mixing affects the vertical distribution of buoyant plastic debris in the ocean, finding that turbulent mixing drives plastics below the surface and explains why surface sampling underestimates total plastic concentrations.

2012 Geophysical Research Letters 701 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in turbidity currents: transport and sedimentation

Researchers investigated the transport and sedimentation behavior of microplastics within turbidity currents, examining how these high-density submarine sediment gravity flows carry MP particles from continental shelves to deep-sea environments and what controls where MPs ultimately deposit.

2025
Article Tier 2

Differences in the Fate of Surface and Subsurface Microplastics: A Case Study in the Central Atlantic

Researchers studied microplastic distribution in the Central Atlantic and found that surface and subsurface samples differ not only in particle size but also in morphology, polymer types, abundance, and spatial distribution, driven by distinct hydrodynamic processes at the sea surface versus a few meters below.

2023 Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of Near‐Surface Currents on the Global Dispersal of Marine Microplastic

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.

2019 Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 148 citations
Article Tier 2

Difference in the fate of surface and subsurface microplastics: an example for open and coastal waters

Researchers compared the behavior of surface and subsurface microplastics in open ocean and coastal waters, finding that vertical mixing and biological processes move substantial quantities of plastic below the surface. Subsurface sampling revealed microplastics that would be missed by surface net tows alone. The findings suggest that surface-based microplastic monitoring significantly underestimates the total plastic burden in the ocean water column.

2023
Article Tier 2

Technical note: On the importance of a three-dimensional approach for modelling the transport of neustic microplastics

This modeling study shows that 3D ocean current simulations are more accurate than 2D surface models for predicting where microplastics that float near the surface will end up. Improving transport models helps scientists estimate where plastic pollution accumulates in the ocean.

2019 Ocean science 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on gmd-2023-49

This comment is part of the peer review of a study modeling vertical particle transport in the ocean, covering particles like microplastics, nanoparticles, and plankton. Improved models of particle movement help predict where microplastics accumulate in the water column and marine sediments.

2023
Article Tier 2

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.

2021 Ocean science 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport and Settling of Microplastics in Turbidity Currents

Researchers investigated the transport and settling behavior of microplastics in turbidity currents to help explain the 'missing plastic' paradox, where far less plastic remains at the ocean surface than the amount estimated to enter the ocean annually. The study found that turbidity currents efficiently transport microplastics to deep-sea sediments, providing a mechanism for the removal of plastic from surface waters.

2024
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Environmental Research Letters 23 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2026
Article Tier 2

Modeling the trajectories of floating and non-floating microplastic particles in the water column

Researchers modeled the trajectories of both floating and non-floating microplastic particles in freshwater and marine water columns, accounting for turbulence-induced mixing, buoyancy differences, and flow characteristics that determine vertical and horizontal distribution. The study highlights that while low-density polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene are expected to concentrate at the surface, turbulent mixing drives significant depth distribution across aquatic environments.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences