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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Non-breaking Wave Effects on Buoyant Particle Distributions
ClearInfluence of waves on the three-dimensional distribution of plastic in the ocean
Researchers modeled the trajectories of microplastic particles released continuously from coastal sources across realistic ocean simulations to understand how wave dynamics and ocean circulation distribute plastic pollution globally. The model showed that wave-driven mixing significantly influences vertical plastic distribution, not just horizontal surface drift. Including wave effects improves predictions of where ocean microplastics accumulate.
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.
Influence of waves on the three-dimensional distribution of plastic in the ocean.
This modeling study simulated the three-dimensional transport of plastic particles in the ocean over 24 years using a wave-coupled circulation model, finding that ocean surface waves significantly influence how deeply plastics are mixed and distributed. Accounting for waves is important for accurately predicting where plastic pollution concentrates and how much reaches the deep ocean.
Passive buoyant tracers in the ocean surface boundary layer: 1. Influence of equilibrium wind‐waves on vertical distributions
Using large eddy simulations, this paper modeled how wind-driven waves affect the vertical distribution of buoyant particles near the ocean surface, providing the physical framework for the companion paper on microplastic debris distribution. The models explain why floating microplastics are often mixed down below the surface, reducing the concentrations observed in surface sampling.
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.
Short-term buoyant microplastic transport patterns driven by wave evolution, breaking, and orbital motion in coast
This study used laboratory wave-tank experiments to examine short-term buoyant microplastic transport driven by wave evolution, breaking, and orbital motion in coastal zones, finding that wave dynamics play a significant role in nearshore microplastic distribution.
Wave-averaged motion of small particles in surface gravity waves: Effect of particle shape on orientation, drift, and dispersion
This study uses mathematical modeling to show that the shape of a small particle — such as a microplastic fragment — determines how it orients itself, drifts, and spreads when carried by ocean surface waves. This matters for predicting where microplastics accumulate in the ocean, since non-spherical fibers and fragments move very differently from spheres under the same wave conditions.
A Simplified Experimental Method to Estimate the Transport of Non-Buoyant Plastic Particles Due to Waves by 2D Image Processing
Not a microplastics paper in the strict sense — this study develops and validates an image-processing method to track the movement of non-buoyant plastic debris particles under wave action in a laboratory wave tank, advancing the physical modeling tools used to predict where plastic pollution accumulates in coastal environments.
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.
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.
Wave-averaged motion of small particles in surface gravity waves: effect of particle shape on orientation, drift, and dispersion
This study modeled how the shape of particles like microplastics affects their movement, orientation, and drift in ocean surface waves. Researchers found that elongated or asymmetric particles behave very differently from spheres, influencing how far and where they travel. Better understanding of shape-dependent transport is needed to accurately predict how microplastics distribute across ocean surfaces.
Impact of microplastic pollution on breaking waves
Researchers investigated how the presence of microplastics affects the dynamics and dissipation of breaking ocean waves, finding that microplastics alter wave characteristics at high concentrations. The study highlights a physical interaction between plastic pollution and ocean surface processes.
The Role of the Unsteady Surface Wave‐Driven Ekman–Stokes Flow in the Accumulation of Floating Marine Litter
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.
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.
Laboratory Study of Non-buoyant Microplastic Transport Beneath Breaking Irregular Waves on a Live Sediment Bed
Researchers conducted wave flume experiments to map where non-buoyant microplastic particles accumulate under breaking waves on a sandy seabed, identifying four distinct hotspots — from offshore bars to beaches — and finding that particle density, shape, and position relative to breaking waves are the key drivers of transport direction.
Numerical analysis of boundary conditions in a Lagrangian particle model for vertical mixing, transport and surfacing of buoyant particles in the water column
This technical modeling paper examines how to accurately simulate the behavior of buoyant particles (like microplastics) rising to the ocean surface in computer models. Improving these simulations helps predict where floating microplastics will accumulate in the ocean.
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.
Orientation dynamics of nonspherical particles under surface gravity waves
This experimental study found that non-spherical particles (like many microplastic fragments) orient themselves in specific ways when exposed to surface ocean waves, affecting how they move and sink. These orientation effects are not captured in simple spherical particle models, suggesting current microplastic transport predictions may be inaccurate.
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.
Dispersion of buoyant Lagrangian particles in the wave-driven ocean surface boundary layer
This computational study used large eddy simulations to model how buoyant particles — including plastics, oil, and biological material — disperse within the ocean surface boundary layer under different wave and turbulence conditions. The results showed that Langmuir turbulence (driven by wave-current interactions) is especially effective at submerging buoyant particles and influencing their horizontal spread, while highly buoyant particles can become trapped at the surface under certain conditions. The findings are directly relevant to modeling how microplastics distribute across the ocean surface and how long they remain accessible to marine organisms that feed near the surface.
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.
Sea Waves Transport of Inertial Micro-Plastics: Mathematical Model and Applications
Researchers developed a mathematical model for how sea waves affect the movement of inertial microplastics in the ocean, calculating how particle size and density influence their trajectories under wave forcing. Better models of wave-driven plastic transport are needed to predict where microplastics accumulate in ocean surface waters.
A laboratory experiment on the effect of waves on the transport and dispersion of macro, meso, and microplastics in the surf zone
This laboratory wave tank experiment examined how waves in the surf zone transport and spread macro-, meso-, and microplastics. Waves caused rapid horizontal and vertical mixing of plastic particles, suggesting that coastal wave action significantly influences where plastic debris concentrates along shorelines.
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.