title: Temporal variability of marine debris deposition at Tern Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
abstract: A twenty-two year record of marine debris collected on Tern Island is used to characterize the temporal variability of debris deposition at a coral atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Debris deposition tends to be episodic, without a significant relationship to local forcing processes associated with winds, sea level, waves, and proximity to the Subtropical Convergence Zone. The General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment is used to estimate likely debris pathways for Tern Island. The majority of modeled arrivals come from the northeast following prevailing trade winds and surface currents, with trajectories indicating the importance of the convergence zone, or garbage patch, in the North Pacific High region. Although debris deposition does not generally exhibit a significant seasonal cycle, some debris types contain considerable 3 cycle/yr variability that is coherent with wind and surface pressure over a broad region north of Tern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States. Electronic address: alyssaag@hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: Alyssa E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Agustin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States. Electronic address: markm@soest.hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Merrifield
authors.affiliation: International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1680 East-West Road, HI 96822, United States. Electronic address: jimp@hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: James T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Potemra
authors.affiliation: U.S. All Islands Coral Reef Committee, NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office, NOAA Inouye Regional Center, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building 176, Honolulu, HI 96818, United States; The Baldwin Group, Inc., 611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE #352, Washington, DC 20003-4303, United States. Electronic address: carey.morishige@noaa.gov.
authors.forename: Carey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morishige
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005735:Garbage; D006254:Hawaii; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: French Frigate Shoals; GNOME; Marine debris; Northwestern Hawaiian Islands