The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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 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 Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (2023) · cites this paper as [20]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“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
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“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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Citations
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Metadata
- 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
- 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 Plankton and Biogeochemistry
- 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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