Researchers at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Greece developed a model to track the pathways and fate of plastic debris from land-based sources in the Mediterranean.
The model performed a simulation over the period from 2010 to 2017, tracking plastics from rivers and coastal cities, while considering important dispersion processes such as sinking, vertical/horizontal mixing, wind, and currents.
According to the research team, the model also identified potential accumulation patterns of micro and macroplastics in the surface layer, water column, seafloor, and on beaches.
This revealed that the total annual plastic load going into the Mediterranean is approximately 17,600 tons, of which 3,760 tons are currently floating in the Mediterranean. Of the total, 84 per cent ends up on beaches and the remaining 16 per cent in the water column or the seafloor.
“Simulations of plastic distribution in marine environments are currently characterised by...