The quest for seafloor macrolitter: a critical review of background knowledge, current methods and future prospects

Canals, Miquel; Pham, Christopher K.; Bergmann, Melanie; Gutow, Lars; Hanke, Georg; Sebille, Erik van; Angiolillo, Michela; Buhl‐Mortensen, Lene; Cau, Alessandro; Ioakeimidis, Christos; Kammann, Ulrike; Lundsten, Lonny; Papatheodorou, George; Purser, Autun; Sánchez-Vidal, Anna; Schulz, Martin; Vinci, Matteo; Chiba, Sanae; Galgani, François; Langenkämper, Daniel; Möller, Tiia; Nattkemper, Tim Wilhelm; Ruiz, Marta; Suikkanen, Sanna; Woodall, Lucy C.; Fakiris, Elias; Jack, Maria Eugenia Molina; Giorgetti, Alessandra

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abc6d4

Cited by 61 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 253 publications

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“…Furthermore, the prevailing superficial winds blow from the sea to the Tyrrhenian coast, contributing to the accumulation of floating material toward the coastal area. Indeed, the largest accumulation area is represented specifically by the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coast and the Strait of Messina, which orographically represent a funnel both for floating and seabed debris [59,60]. The reverse occurs on the Ionian coast, where both winds and currents tend to move the floating material away toward the open sea.…”

Section: Microplastic Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in the Center of Mediterranean: Comparison of the Two Calabrian Coasts and Distribution from Coastal Areas to the Open Sea

Marrone

Russa

Randazzo

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Plastic is everywhere—increasing evidence suggests that plastic pollution is ubiquitous and persistent in ecosystems worldwide. Microplastic pollution in marine environments is particularly insidious, as small fragmentation can increase interaction with biota and food chain access. Of particular concern is the Mediterranean Sea, which has become a large area of accumulation of plastic debris, including microplastics, whose polymeric composition is still largely unknown. In this study, we analyzed the polymeric composition, particle size distribution, shape, and color of small plastic particles (ranging from 50 to 5000 µm) collected from the sea surface in six stations at the center of the Mediterranean Sea. We also described, for the first time, the different distribution of microplastics from coastal areas up to 12 nautical miles offshore. The microplastic density was 0.13 ± 0.19 particles/m2, with a marked prevalence of smaller particles (73% < 3 mm) and a peak between 1 and 2 mm (34.74%). Microplastics composition analysis showed that the most abundant material was polyethylene (69%), followed by polypropylene (24%). Moreover, we reported a comparison of the two Calabrian coasts providing the first characterization of a great difference in microplastic concentration between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian sides (87% vs. 13%, respectively), probably due to the complex marine and atmospheric circulation, which make the Tyrrhenian side an area of accumulation of materials originating even from faraway places. We demonstrate, for the first time, a great difference in microplastic concentration between Tyrrhenian and Ionian Calabrian coasts, providing a full characterization and highlighting that microplastic pollution is affected by both local release and hydrography of the areas.

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Section: Microplastic Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in the Center of Mediterranean: Comparison of the Two Calabrian Coasts and Distribution from Coastal Areas to the Open Sea

Marrone

Russa

Randazzo

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Macro-litter, items larger than a few centimetres, is often studied using inventory approaches, which count litter items by type 9,10 . However, macro-litter inventories are underused, due in large part to the differences in the classification methods across studies 11 .…”

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confidence: 99%

An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter

et al. 2021

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The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered. Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out food and beverages largely dominates global litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial.

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“…Third, the results in this paper have implications for other types of sinking particles in the ocean. For instance, a large fraction of marine plastic sinks to the ocean floor (Canals et al, 2020;Kooi et al, 2017). Sedimentary plastic distributions might be subject to similar mechanisms of mixing during their sinking journey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary microplankton distributions are shaped by oceanographically connected areas

Nooteboom

Bijl

Kehl

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Having descended through the water column, microplankton in ocean sediments are representative for the ocean surface environment, where they originated from. Sedimentary microplankton is therefore used as an archive of past and present surface oceanographic conditions. However, these particles are advected by turbulent ocean currents during their sinking journey. So far, it is unknown to what extent this particle advection shapes the microplankton composition in sediments. Here we use global simulations of sinking particles in a strongly eddying global ocean model, and define ocean bottom provinces based on the particle surface origin locations. We find that these provinces can be detected in global datasets of sedimentary microplankton assemblages, demonstrating the effect provincialism has on the composition of sedimentary remains of surface plankton. These provinces explain the microplankton composition, together with e.g. ocean surface environment. Connected provinces have implications on the optimal spatial extent of microplankton sediment sample datasets that are used for palaeoceanographic reconstructions, and on the optimal spatial averaging of sediment samples over global datasets.

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The quest for seafloor macrolitter: a critical review of background knowledge, current methods and future prospects

Cited by 61 publications

References 253 publications

Microplastics in the Center of Mediterranean: Comparison of the Two Calabrian Coasts and Distribution from Coastal Areas to the Open Sea

Microplastics in the Center of Mediterranean: Comparison of the Two Calabrian Coasts and Distribution from Coastal Areas to the Open Sea

An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter

Sedimentary microplankton distributions are shaped by oceanographically connected areas

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