title: Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea.
abstract: Plastic pollution is ubiquitous throughout the marine environment, yet estimates of the global abundance and weight of floating plastics have lacked data, particularly from the Southern Hemisphere and remote regions. Here we report an estimate of the total number of plastic particles and their weight floating in the world's oceans from 24 expeditions (2007-2013) across all five sub-tropical gyres, costal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea conducting surface net tows (N = 680) and visual survey transects of large plastic debris (N = 891). Using an oceanographic model of floating debris dispersal calibrated by our data, and correcting for wind-driven vertical mixing, we estimate a minimum of 5.25 trillion particles weighing 268,940 tons. When comparing between four size classes, two microplastic <4.75 mm and meso- and macroplastic >4.75 mm, a tremendous loss of microplastics is observed from the sea surface compared to expected rates of fragmentation, suggesting there are mechanisms at play that remove <4.75 mm plastic particles from the ocean surface.
authors.affiliation: Five Gyres Institute, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eriksen
authors.affiliation: Dumpark Data Science, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Laurent C M
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lebreton
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Department, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii, United States of America; Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Henry S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Carson
authors.affiliation: Facultad Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Island (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile; Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Coquimbo, Chile.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.affiliation: Algalita Marine Research and Education, Long Beach, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: eCoast Limited, Raglan, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jose C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Borerro
authors.affiliation: Departement Océanographie et Dynamique des Ecosystemes, Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (Ifremer), Bastia, Corsica, France.
authors.forename: Francois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Galgani
authors.affiliation: Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Systems Engineering and Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reisser
mesh_terms: D057446:Hydrodynamics; D016014:Linear Models; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010969:Plastics; D014876:Water Pollution; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics