Settling Velocity of Microplastics Exposed to Wave Action

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

Annalisa De Leo¹  Laura Cutroneo²  Alessandro Stocchino³  Damien Sous⁴ 

[1] DICCA, Università degli Studi di Genova, via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genova, Italy;DISTAV, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genova, Italy;Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China;Université de Toulon, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), 83130 La Garde, France;

关键词: microplastic transport;    Stokes drift;    inertial particles;    settling velocity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jmse9020142

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Microplastic (MP) debris is recognized to be one of the most serious threats to marine environments. They are found in all seas and oceanic basins worldwide, even in the most remote areas. This is further proof that the transport of MPs is very efficient. In the present study, we focus our attention on MPs’ transport owing to the Stokes drift generated by sea waves. Recent studies have shown that the interaction between heavy particles and Stokes drift leads to unexpected phenomena mostly related to inertial effects. We perform a series of laboratory experiments with the aim to directly measure MPs’ trajectories under different wave conditions. The main objective is to quantify the inertial effect and, ultimately, suggest a new analytical formulation for the net settling velocity. The latter formula might be implemented in a larger scale transport model in order to account for inertial effects in a simplified approach.

【 授权许可】

Unknown