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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to The Fluid Mechanics of Ocean Microplastics
ClearVertical 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.
Physical transport properties of marine microplastic pollution
Researchers reviewed the physical transport properties of marine microplastics — including buoyancy, settling velocity, and biofouling effects — and developed models predicting the dispersal of both pelagic and benthic plastic pollution from land-based sources across different ocean regions. The study highlights how hydrodynamic behavior varies by polymer type and particle size, leading to differential accumulation patterns in surface waters, the water column, and seafloor sediments.
Fluid dynamics challenges in predicting plastic pollution transport in the ocean: A perspective
This perspective reviewed fluid dynamics challenges in predicting microplastic transport in oceans, highlighting unsolved problems in modeling inertial particles in waves and turbulence, particle transformation, and the influence of submesoscale ocean processes.
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.
Microplastics in the marine environment: A review of their sources, distribution processes, uptake and exchange in ecosystems
Researchers reviewed the literature on how microplastics move through marine environments, finding that while plastic density helps predict vertical distribution in the water column, biological interactions — such as ingestion and biofouling — better explain why buoyant plastics end up at great ocean depths and transfer through food webs. The review underscores that microplastic bioaccumulation is driven as much by ecology as by physical properties.
A review of possible pathways of marine microplastics transport in the ocean
This review examines the major pathways by which marine microplastics are transported through the ocean, including surface currents, vertical mixing, biological uptake, and seafloor deposition. Understanding these transport mechanisms is essential for predicting where plastic pollution accumulates and how it affects marine ecosystems.
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.
Why biofouling cannot contribute to the vertical transport of small microplastic
This modeling study examined why even buoyant microplastics like polyethylene and polypropylene are found at high concentrations in deep sediment traps and deep-sea sediments, despite expectations that they would float. The analysis demonstrated that biofouling alone cannot explain vertical transport of small microplastics, pointing to other mechanisms such as aggregation with marine snow as more likely drivers of deep-sea deposition.
The factors influencing the vertical transport of microplastics in marine environment: A review
This review examines the factors that cause microplastics to sink from the ocean surface to deeper waters and sediments, including particle properties, biofouling by marine organisms, and interactions with marine snow. Researchers found that biological processes like ingestion and egestion by marine animals play a major role in transporting even lightweight plastics to the seafloor. Understanding these vertical transport mechanisms is essential for accurately assessing where microplastics accumulate in the ocean.
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.
Effects of Biofilms and Particle Physical Properties on the Rising and Settling Velocities of Microplastic Fibers and Sheets
Researchers investigated how biofilms and physical properties affect the rising and settling velocities of microplastic fibers and sheets, finding that biofouling significantly altered vertical transport dynamics depending on particle shape and size.
Sinking characteristics of microplastics in the marine environment
This study investigated the sinking behavior of microplastics in the marine environment, finding that particle properties such as density, shape, and biofouling strongly influence whether particles float or sink, helping explain why much of the expected floating plastic is unaccounted for.
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.
Microplastics on the move
This review examines how the physical properties of microplastics — including density, size, morphology, and durability — drive their dispersal across aquatic and terrestrial environments via wind currents, water flows, and biological vectors.
Elucidating the vertical transport of microplastics in the water column: A review of sampling methodologies and distributions
This review synthesized sampling methodologies and findings on microplastic vertical distribution in the water column, identifying that surface trawl studies dramatically underestimate total water column burdens and that sinking behavior, biofouling, and hydrodynamic processes create complex depth-dependent distribution patterns.
Evidence of Microplastic Size Impact on Mobility and Transport in the Marine Environment: A Review and Synthesis of Recent Research
This review synthesized evidence on how microplastic particle size affects transport and dispersal in the marine environment, finding that size critically influences turbulent entrainment, settling velocity, and resuspension, analogous to well-established natural sediment transport dynamics.
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.
The role of buoyancy in the dispersal of marine plastic debris and the impact of biofouling : does size matter?
This thesis examined why smaller microplastic particles (less than 5mm) appear to be disappearing from the ocean surface at higher rates than expected, investigating how biofouling—colonization by organisms that adds weight—affects the buoyancy and sinking of differently sized plastic items. The study found that size significantly influences how biofouling affects plastic transport, with smaller particles more prone to sinking.
Rise velocity of small polyolefin plastics in a seawater tank exposed to natural conditions in Hawai’i
Researchers measured the rise velocity of positively buoyant polyolefin plastic particles in a seawater tank exposed to natural environmental conditions in Hawaii, examining the effects of surface area to volume ratio and biofouling on buoyancy and transport. They found that biofouling significantly altered the rise velocity of plastics, highlighting the importance of environmental weathering in determining the vertical distribution and sinking behavior of marine plastic debris.
Horizontal Dispersion of Buoyant Materials in the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer
This theoretical and computational study examined how buoyant materials like plastic fragments are dispersed horizontally in the ocean surface layer by turbulent mixing processes. The modeling results help explain how surface microplastics spread and whether they reach zones of biological concentration.
On some physical and dynamical properties of microplastic particles in marine environment
This study examined the physical and dynamical properties of microplastic particles in marine environments, using modeling to predict how particle shape, density, and size govern transport, dispersion, and accumulation patterns.
Fate of microplastics and mesoplastics carried by surface currents and wind waves: A numerical model approach in the Sea of Japan
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.
Modelling submerged biofouled microplastics and their vertical trajectories
Using an ocean circulation model, researchers simulated the vertical trajectories of biofouled microplastic particles of different sizes across three ocean regions with distinct biological and physical properties. Larger particles (0.1 to 1.0 mm) showed rapid oscillatory sinking and resurfacing behavior with cycles under 10 days, while smaller particles oscillated over up to 130 days, explaining how biofouling drives microplastic distribution through the water column.
Modelling the sedimentation of macro-, micro- and nanoplastics in the ocean from surface to sediment
Researchers modeled the sedimentation of macro-, micro-, and nanoplastics from the ocean surface to the seafloor, finding that biofouling and particle aggregation dramatically accelerate sinking rates and that most plastics eventually reach benthic environments.