![]() These particles' long journeys mean this plastic has greater potential to interact with, and harm, marine life, according to the researchers. The eggs and larvae mainly drift clockwise around the country and eventually. Their simulations also suggested that currents may push plastic toward coastal areas and that only about 20% of pollution near coasts originates from the nearest country. The main spawning grounds for Icelandic cod are on the shelf southwest of Iceland. While observations of the distribution of plastic underwater are limited, the team found their simulations agree with those available in the Mediterranean. Their results suggested that the slower the pieces sank, the farther currents carried them from their points of origin, with slowest traveling an average of roughly 175 miles laterally. They then simulated nearly 7.7 million bits of plastic distributed across the sea and tracked their virtual paths to depths as great as about half a mile. To test this assumption, they used an advanced computer model developed to track plastic at sea and incorporated extensive data already collected on floating plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. However, Alberto Baudena and his colleagues suspected this light plastic might not follow such a direct route. Researchers don't know much about what happens when plastic sinks, but they generally assume it falls straight down from the surface. Bits of this light plastic, which typically measure 5 millimeters or less, have turned up at least half a mile below the surface. Even material that weighs less than water can sink as algae and other organisms glom onto it, and through other processes. However, plastic waste also collects much deeper. glacial ice sheets that once covered New England. The problem is most visible on the surface, where currents can aggregate this debris into massive, so-called garbage patches. Ground-water residence time in stratified-drift aquifers is relatively short, where the flow is. And if it remains in the water, plastic waste can release organic pollutants. Not only is this debris unsightly, animals can become trapped in it or mistakenly eat it. ![]() From old shopping bags to water bottles, plastic pollution is besieging the oceans.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |