TY - JOUR
T1 - The spatiotemporal dynamics, distribution, and characteristics of beached plastics along the remote south coast of Western Australia
AU - Lyu, Chao
AU - Paterson, Harriet Louise
AU - Fogarty, James
N1 - Funding Information:
This study research was funded as part of a master's research program at the University of Western Australia . Thanks are also extended to Chris Goodsale from the Department of Parks and Wildlife and Gary Muir, manager of Walpole eco-cruise.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Understanding the accumulation mechanism for beached plastics is important for marine debris research. Similar to the global accumulation pattern for beached plastics, we find that along the remote south coast of Western Australia (SCWA) white, hard, microplastics dominate the microplastic pollution accumulating on beaches. We estimate that along the SCWA, plastics are present at a density of 2.01 items·m−2, but also find that the density of plastic pollution is higher at the eastern end of bays. Significantly fewer plastics were found after easterly winds (austral summer-prevailing winds), and regional physical ocean process, including the Leeuwin Current, and the Ekman transport effect may be relevant to the rate of plastic accumulation on SCWA beaches.
AB - Understanding the accumulation mechanism for beached plastics is important for marine debris research. Similar to the global accumulation pattern for beached plastics, we find that along the remote south coast of Western Australia (SCWA) white, hard, microplastics dominate the microplastic pollution accumulating on beaches. We estimate that along the SCWA, plastics are present at a density of 2.01 items·m−2, but also find that the density of plastic pollution is higher at the eastern end of bays. Significantly fewer plastics were found after easterly winds (austral summer-prevailing winds), and regional physical ocean process, including the Leeuwin Current, and the Ekman transport effect may be relevant to the rate of plastic accumulation on SCWA beaches.
KW - Beach debris
KW - Microplastic
KW - Nurdle
KW - Western Australia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138328903&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114126
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114126
M3 - Article
C2 - 36162291
AN - SCOPUS:85138328903
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 184
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
M1 - 114126
ER -