Plastic debris in the open ocean
Open accessAbstract
Significance: High concentrations of floating plastic debris have been reported in remote areas of the ocean, increasing concern about the accumulation of plastic litter on the ocean surface. Since the introduction of plastic materials in the 1950s, the global production of plastic has increased rapidly and will continue in the coming decades. However, the abundance and the distribution of plastic debris in the open ocean are still unknown, despite evidence of affects on organisms ranging from small invertebrates to whales. In this work, we synthetize data collected across the world to provide a global map and a first-order approximation of the magnitude of the plastic pollution in surface waters of the open ocean.
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Current estimates of the total amount of plastic at the ocean surface account for less than 1% of the estimated amount of all plastics ever released into the sea.
“Current estimates of the total amount of plastic at the ocean surface only account for less than 1% of the estimated amount of all plastics that have ever been released into the sea [20, 21].”
From Polyethylene degradation and assimilation by the marine yeast <i>Rhodotorula mucilaginosa</i> (2023) · cites this paper as [20]
The Results and Discussion estimate that floating plastic released into the open ocean since the 1970s was about 100 times the current surface load. That supports a large shortfall, but not a categorical figure of less than 1%: the paper gives a range for the surface load, and its comparison concerns floating plastic released into the open ocean since the 1970s, not all plastic ever released into the sea. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFloating PMD that has not beached is transported offshore and accumulates in subtropical gyres and enclosed basins.
“Floating PMD that has not beached is then transported offshore and accumulates in subtropical gyres and enclosed basins (Law et al., 2010;Cózar et al., 2014;van Sebille et al., 2015;Wayman and Niemann, 2021).”
From Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions (2023) · cites this paper as Cózar et al., 2014
The Results and Discussion (page unavailable) report that floating plastic is exported from coastal to open-ocean waters and confirm its accumulation in all five subtropical gyres. The paper mentions semiclosed seas such as the Mediterranean as areas with scarce data, but does not establish accumulation in enclosed basins or specifically track plastic that has not beached. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMeasurements and model simulations revealed an uneven distribution of PMD, with highest concentrations in the subtropical gyres and much lower concentrations in the tropical and Arctic open ocean.
“Measurements and model simulations revealed an uneven distribution of PMD, which complicates assessing global PMD inventories: highest PMD concentrations were found in the subtropical gyres (which have been termed 'trash vortexes' or 'garbage patches'), while PMD concentrations are much lower in the in the tropical and Arctic open ocean.51,53,54,[62][63][64]”
From The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview (2021) · cites this paper as [51]
The relatively large mesh size (typically >300 mm) does not account for small microplastic particles which are probably more abundant, and it has been suggested that this may explain at least some of the discrepancy.
“The relatively large mesh size (typically >300 mm) does also not account for small micro plastic particles which are probably more abundant 51,65 and it has been suggested that this may explain at least some of the discrepancy.21”
From The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview (2021) · cites this paper as [51]
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- Authors
- Cózar, A., Echevarría, F., González-Gordillo, J. I., Irigoien, X., Úbeda, B., Hernández-León, S., Palma, Á. T., Navarro, S., García-de-Lomas, J., Ruiz, A., Fernández-de-Puelles, M. L., & Duarte, C. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Cádiz (ES)
- Área de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar, E-11510 Puerto Real, Spain;
- AZTI (ES)
- Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain;
- Fisioaqua, Las Condes, 6513677 Santiago, Chile;
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- Pakea Bizkaia, 48990 Getxo, Spain;
- Instituto Español de Oceanografía (ES)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-06-30
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 28
- Pages
- 10239-10244
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4104848
- OpenAlex
- W1981644934
- Cited by
- 3,133
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 209 · 2025: 290 · 2024: 322 · 2023: 353 · 2022: 379 · 2021: 402 · 2020: 348 · 2019: 267 · 2018: 188 · 2017: 151 · 2016: 118 · 2015: 87 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 87.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Acceda (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) (submittedVersion)
- AZTI Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Repository (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- RODIN (Universidad de Cádiz) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CSD2008-00077, CTM2012-39587-C04-01, CTM2012-39587, CTM2012-39587-C04)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Keywords
- plastic debris, open ocean, subtropical gyre, convergence region, microplastics, nanoplastics, marine food webs, ballasting, marine plastic pollution
- MeSH terms
- Oceans and Seas, Plastics, Water Pollutants, Water Pollution
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