Plastic debris in the open ocean
Cózar, A.; Echevarría, F.; González-Gordillo, J.I.; Irigoien, X.; Úbeda, B.; Hernández-León, S.; Palma, A.T.; Navarro, S.; García-de-Lomas, J.; Ruiz, A.; Fernández de Puelles, M.L.; Duarte, C.M. (2014). Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111(28): 10239-10244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1314705111
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The Academy: Washington, D.C.. ISSN 0027-8424; e-ISSN 1091-6490, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Cózar, A.
- Echevarría, F.
- González-Gordillo, J.I.
- Irigoien, X.
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- Úbeda, B.
- Hernández-León, S.
- Palma, A.T.
- Navarro, S.
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- García-de-Lomas, J.
- Ruiz, A.
- Fernández de Puelles, M.L.
- Duarte, C.M., more
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| Abstract |
High concentrations of floating plastic debris have been reported in remote areas of the ocean, increasing concern about the accumulation of plastic litter on the ocean surface. Since the introduction of plastic materials in the 1950s, the global production of plastic has increased rapidly and will continue in the coming decades. However, the abundance and the distribution of plastic debris in the open ocean are still unknown, despite evidence of affects on organisms ranging from small invertebrates to whales. In this work, we synthetize data collected across the world to provide a global map and a first-order approximation of the magnitude of the plastic pollution in surface waters of the open ocean. |
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