It is assumed that the main source of plastic litter to the oceans is terrestrial from rivers and waterways. Therefore, the dominant plastic pathways from land sources to the ocean is via coastal regions. However, it is not clear how the plastic particles are transported by coastal waves and currents once they are discharged to the marine environment. Within the new TRACE project, a practical tool is being developed to understand floating marine litter (FML) pathways in coastal regions and to map hotspots, concentration values and their fluctuations. This tool combines a coastal FML numerical model and FML monitoring in coastal regions using a citizen science approach. The tool is applied to the coastal zone of Barcelona, a densely populated industrial and commercial zone. The numerical model uses hydrodynamic information from three different nested grids to obtain the FML transport with enough resolution at the coastal scale but also allowing a proper FML tracking over a regional scale and FML motion from river mouths to coastal regions and the continental shelf. The monitoring approach includes FML collection in city beaches, rivers mouths and drain discharge regions. Preliminary results from both monitoring and modelling shows large FML accumulation in the Barcelona coastline suggesting large storage rates of the FML in the coastal zone with large rates of FML from rivers returning to the dry beach and low export rates to the open ocean. The final presentation will discuss the FML transport pathways, accumulation regions and transport mechanisms in detail.
Primary Presenter: José Alsina, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (jose.alsina@upc.edu)
Authors:
Agustín Sánchez-Arcilla, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (agustin.arcilla@upc.edu)
David Amblas, Universitat de Barcelona (damblas@ub.edu)
Iván Hernández, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ivan.hernandez1@upc.edu)
Joaquim Sospedra, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (joaquim.sospedra@upc.edu)
Leidy Castro, Universitat de Barcelona (lemcastroro@gmail.com)
Manuel Espino, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (manuel.espino@upc.edu)
María Liste, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (maria.liste@upc.edu)
Marc Cerdà-Domenech, Universitat de Barcelona (cerda.domenech@ub.edu)
Oriol Uviedo, Universitat de Barcelona (oriol.uviedo@ub.edu)
William de Haan, Universitat de Barcelona (w.dehaan@ub.edu)
David Pérez, DeepSolutions (dperez@deepsolutions.io)
María Ballesteros, Surfrider Foundation (mballesteros@surfrider.eu)
Anna Sánchez-Vidal, Universitat de Barcelona (anna.sanchez@ub.edu)
Combined numerical and monitoring tools for a better management of marine litter in the coastal environment. The TRACE project.
Category
Scientific Sessions > SS024 Down the Drain and Down the River: The Transport, Fate and Impact of Micro- and Nanoplastic on Their Way to the Oceans
Description
Time: 06:30 PM
Date: 7/6/2023
Room: Mezzanine