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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Mathematical modeling of microplastic abundance, distribution, and transport in water environments: A review
ClearApplications of mathematical modelling for assessing microplastic transport and fate in water environments: a comparative review
This systematic review evaluates mathematical models used to predict how microplastics move through and accumulate in water systems. Better models help scientists understand where microplastics end up in the environment and, ultimately, how they might reach drinking water sources and affect human exposure.
Modeling the Fate and Transport of Plastic Debris in Freshwaters: Review and Guidance
Researchers reviewed current mathematical models for tracking how plastic debris — including microplastics and nanoplastics — moves through freshwater environments, finding that while many principles from existing particle models apply, plastic's unique combination of high persistence, low density, and extreme size range makes its behavior far more varied and complex to predict.
Modeling the Fate and Transport of Microplastics in Various Aquatic Environmental Compartments
This book chapter reviews mathematical models for tracking microplastic fate and transport in rivers, estuaries, oceans, and groundwater systems. It examines how hydrodynamic processes—advection, dispersion, sedimentation, and biofouling—are incorporated into process-based models to simulate microplastic movement across aquatic compartments.
A novel modeling approaches to understand the fate and transport of microplastics in aquatic environment
This paper reviews novel modeling approaches for simulating microplastic fate and transport in aquatic environments, arguing that process-based and data-driven models are needed to complement field monitoring and improve risk assessments.
A review of methods for modeling microplastic transport in the marine environments
This review systematically evaluated the advantages and limitations of various numerical modeling methods used to predict microplastic transport in marine environments, including key factors like parameterization of microplastic behaviors and beaching configurations.
Progress and future directions bridging microplastics transport from pore to continuum scale: A comprehensive review for experimental and modeling approaches
This review bridges current understanding of microplastic transport modeling with monitoring data, identifying gaps between field observations and computational predictions of microplastic fate in aquatic systems. The authors propose future directions for integrating real-world data into transport frameworks.
Mathematical modelling and simulations for microplastic environmental research: a systematic review
This systematic review summarizes how mathematical models and computer simulations are being used to study microplastic pollution in the environment. These modeling tools help scientists predict where microplastics travel, how they accumulate, and where human exposure is most likely, which is crucial for developing effective strategies to protect public health.
Using Numerical Model Simulations to Improve the Understanding of Micro-plastic Distribution and Pathways in the Marine Environment
This review summarizes a decade of numerical models that simulate the ocean transport of microplastics, assessing how well different models capture the effects of currents, waves, and wind. The authors identify key uncertainties — especially around vertical mixing, beaching, and fragmentation — that limit the predictive accuracy of current models.
Modelling Microplastic Dynamics in Estuaries: A Comprehensive Review, Challenges and Recommendations
This comprehensive review examines how process-based computer models have been used to simulate microplastic transport and fate in estuaries — the complex, tidal zones where rivers meet the sea. It evaluates different modeling approaches for capturing hydrodynamics, particle behavior, and interactions with sediment, identifying key gaps and inconsistencies in how microplastic properties are represented. Better estuarine models are needed to predict where plastics accumulate, how long they persist, and what risks they pose to coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Quantifying the impact of biofouling on microplastic transport: a modeling study
Researchers developed a modeling study to quantify how biofouling -- the attachment of microorganisms to microplastic surfaces -- affects microplastic transport in river systems by altering particle size, shape, density, and settling velocity, using quantified data to simulate transport dynamics.
Modeling impacts of river hydrodynamics on fate and transport of microplastics in riverine environments
Researchers built a computer model to simulate how microplastics travel and transform in river systems, accounting for particle aggregation and breakage driven by water flow. They found that microplastics clump together significantly in the early stages after entering a river, which changes the size distribution of particles flowing downstream. The study suggests that river conditions play a major role in determining what size and form of microplastics eventually reach the ocean.
Modeling the transport of microplastics along river networks
Researchers built a mathematical model to predict how microplastics travel through river networks, combining water flow dynamics with estimates of human plastic inputs. They tested the model against real-world data from three river systems worldwide and found it reliably predicted microplastic concentrations. The tool could help identify pollution hotspots and guide cleanup priorities across entire river basins.
Dispersal and transport of microplastic particles under different flow conditions in riverine ecosystem
Researchers developed a particle-tracking model combined with hydrodynamic simulation to study how microplastics travel through river systems under different water flow conditions. They found that flow speed, turbulence, and river channel features significantly influence where microplastics accumulate and how far they travel. The study provides a useful tool for predicting microplastic transport patterns and identifying pollution hotspots in river ecosystems.
A Lagrangian Model for Microplastics Transport in Rivers
Researchers developed a Lagrangian computational model to simulate how microplastics are transported through river systems, accounting for particle buoyancy, turbulence, and settling behavior. The model provides a tool for predicting microplastic fate and accumulation in freshwater environments.
A numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition for fluvial systems
Researchers developed a numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition in river systems, finding that rivers act as temporary sinks trapping significant fractions of MPs before they reach the ocean, with implications for estimating marine MP loading from terrestrial sources.
Rivers as Conduits: A Comprehensive Model of Microplastic Fate and Transport
This study developed a comprehensive model of microplastic fate and transport in rivers, integrating processes of erosion, resuspension, sedimentation, and burial to simulate how microplastics move through river networks toward the ocean.
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.
Modeling microplastic dynamics in riverine systems: fate and transport analysis
Researchers developed a computer model to simulate how microplastics travel through river systems, accounting for how they enter from human activities and how they settle, resuspend, and deposit along riverbanks. The model was applied to the Tame River in the UK using four different scenarios based on plastic particle types like fibers, fragments, and pellets. The study provides a tool for predicting where microplastics accumulate in rivers, which could help target cleanup and monitoring efforts.
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.
Lagrangian Modeling of Marine Microplastics Fate and Transport: The State of the Science
This comprehensive review synthesizes Lagrangian modeling approaches used to track the fate and transport of marine microplastics, covering particle dynamics, buoyancy, biofouling, and sedimentation processes across global ocean systems. The authors identify key knowledge gaps and recommend standardization of model parameters to improve predictions of plastic distribution and exposure risk.
A numerical framework for modeling fate and transport of microplastics in inland and coastal waters
Researchers developed a new three-dimensional numerical framework called CaMPSim-3D for predicting microplastic fate and transport in rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters. The model couples Lagrangian particle tracking with hydrodynamic modeling to help identify pollution sources and accumulation hotspots, providing a tool for informed decision-making on microplastic prevention and cleanup.
Numerieke modellering van dispersie van plastic in aquatische milieus
This study developed numerical models to simulate the dispersal and spatiotemporal dynamics of microplastics in aquatic environments — including freshwater, estuarine, coastal, and marine systems — to complement field observations that alone cannot capture the full complexity of plastic transport.
Review on the distribution of microplastics in the oceans and its impacts: Need for modeling-based approach to investigate the transport and risk of microplastic pollution
This review synthesizes evidence on microplastic distribution across global oceans and argues that modeling-based approaches are urgently needed to better understand transport pathways and assess pollution risks at scale.
Oceanic realistic application of a microplastic biofouling model to the river discharge case
Researchers applied a biofouling model to simulate how microbial colonization affects microplastic transport from river discharge into oceanic environments, finding that biofouling alters particle density and significantly changes vertical distribution and transport distances.