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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Numerical analysis of boundary conditions in a Lagrangian particle model for vertical mixing, transport and surfacing of buoyant particles in the water column
ClearPassive 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.
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.
Empirical Lagrangian parametrization for wind-driven mixing of buoyant particles at the ocean surface
This study developed simplified mathematical models for how wind-driven turbulence mixes buoyant particles — including microplastics — in the ocean surface layer. Better parameterizations of near-surface mixing are important for predicting where floating microplastics concentrate and how they eventually sink.
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.
A comparison of Eulerian and Lagrangian methods for vertical particle transport in the water column
This study compared Eulerian and Lagrangian mathematical methods for modeling how particles including microplastics, plankton, and gas bubbles move vertically in the ocean. Accurate particle transport models are essential for predicting where microplastics accumulate in the water column and ultimately in marine sediments.
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.
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.
Non-breaking Wave Effects on Buoyant Particle Distributions
This study used wave-resolving simulations to examine how surface gravity waves affect the distribution of buoyant microplastic particles in the ocean mixed layer. The findings show that wave dynamics create concentration patterns near the surface that are missed by models that do not resolve individual wave phases.
Numerical integrators for Lagrangian oceanography
This technical study compared numerical methods for calculating ocean particle trajectories from model current data, with relevance to tracking floating microplastics at sea. The choice of interpolation method significantly affects trajectory accuracy, with implications for marine plastic transport modeling.
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.
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.
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.
Influence 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.
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.
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.
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 wave-resolving 2DV Lagrangian approach to model microplastic transport in the nearshore
This study presents a new computer modeling approach to simulate how both floating and sinking microplastics move through wave-dominated nearshore waters, incorporating realistic turbulence, seafloor interactions, and particle settling. Accurate nearshore transport models are critical for predicting where microplastics accumulate along coastlines, how much re-enters the open ocean, and which beaches and coastal ecosystems face the greatest contamination risk.
A comparison of Eulerian and Lagrangian methods for vertical particle transport in the water column
This modeling study compared two mathematical approaches — Eulerian and Lagrangian — for simulating how particles like microplastics move vertically through the ocean water column. Both methods produced equivalent results, but Lagrangian (particle-tracking) methods handle a wide range of particle sizes and densities more naturally than Eulerian methods. Accurate transport models are important for predicting where microplastics end up in the ocean and at what depths they accumulate, which informs risk assessments for marine organisms.
Empirical Lagrangian parametrization for wind-driven mixing of buoyant particles at the ocean surface
Researchers developed 1D Lagrangian parametrizations of wind-driven turbulent mixing in the ocean surface layer for use in 3D particle-tracking models, finding that Markov-0 stochastic transport models perform well and that Langmuir-circulation turbulence must be included to match field measurements of microplastic concentration profiles.
Advancements in numerical simulation of microplastics transport in open waters: Model enhancements and sensitivity analyses of boundary conditions and settling velocities
Researchers updated a three-dimensional particle tracking model for simulating microplastic transport in marine and riverine environments, adding free-slip boundary conditions, settling and resuspension mechanics, and turbulent diffusion, then validated the model against field data from the Ottawa River and Saguenay Fjord.
Influence of Settling/Rising Velocity on the Vertical Distribution of Microplastics in the Marine Environment
Researchers used a three-dimensional Lagrangian dispersion model incorporating mean ocean currents and subgrid-scale turbulence to simulate the vertical distribution of microplastics in marine environments, assigning particles a spectrum of settling and rising velocities reflecting the diversity of microplastic sizes, shapes, and densities. Results showed that using a probability distribution of velocities rather than a single value substantially alters predicted vertical concentration profiles throughout the water column.
A wave-resolving two-dimensional vertical Lagrangian approach to model microplastic transport in nearshore waters based on TrackMPD 3.0
Researchers developed a wave-resolving model to simulate how microplastics move through nearshore waters, accounting for processes like resuspension from the seabed and turbulence-driven transport. The model successfully reproduced laboratory experiments showing different behavior for floating versus sinking microplastics. This tool could help predict where microplastics accumulate along coastlines and improve understanding of how shoreline environments act as sources or sinks of plastic pollution.
Three-Dimensional Dispersion of Neutral “Plastic” Particles in a Global Ocean Model
Researchers used Lagrangian particle tracking in a high-resolution global ocean model to simulate the three-dimensional fate of neutrally buoyant plastic particles released from rivers over 1991-2010. By the end of the simulation, less than 2% of particles remained at the surface, concentrated in subtropical gyres, while the majority sank — challenging the assumption that floating surface plastics represent the bulk of ocean plastic.
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.