Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 373, Issue 6550, Pages 107-+Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.abe0290
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Funding
- Generalitat de Catalunya [2017 SGR 315]
- Red Espanola sobre BAsuras MARinas (BAMAR) [CGL201681854-REDT]
- Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) I-MarCat grant [PR2015-S06-CANALS]
- University of Perpignan Via Domitia [ED305]
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Research shows that the amount of microplastics discharged by rivers has been overestimated by two to three orders of magnitude, leading to a significant reduction in the theoretical need for a missing sink that could explain the rapid removal of plastics from the ocean surface.
Plastic floating at the ocean surface, estimated at tens to hundreds of thousands of metric tons, represents only a small fraction of the estimated several million metric tons annually discharged by rivers. Such an imbalance promoted the search for a missing plastic sink that could explain the rapid removal of river-sourced plastics from the ocean surface. On the basis of an in-depth statistical reanalysis of updated data on microplastics-a size fraction for which both ocean and river sampling rely on equal techniques-we demonstrate that current river flux assessments are overestimated by two to three orders of magnitude. Accordingly, the average residence time of microplastics at the ocean surface rises from a few days to several years, strongly reducing the theoretical need for a missing sink.
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