Project Funding: 2017 - 2020

NRA: 2016 NASA: Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
Converging surface currents collect marine debris floating on or near the ocean surface and create a unique ecosystem that floats in the eastern North Pacific garbage patch. In the proposed project an interdisciplinary team, including oceanographers, modelers, biologists, ecologists and citizen scientists will study how the ocean dynamics and its coupling with the atmosphere maintains the garbage patch and sorts different types of debris according to their windage, buoyancy, and geometry. The project will build on evidence from the 2011 tsunami in Japan that shows coastal species can cross the vast ocean and survive in pelagic areas for years on man-made debris. Millions of tons of plastic debris added to the ocean every year provide a growing substrate for the new ecosystem. We will study biotas based on debris retrieved in the garbage patch area, identify the presence and survival of coastal species, characterize leakage of debris from the patch, and describe the role of marine debris as a vector for potential invasions. Physical and biological data will be collected during the three summer-time expeditions by the Ocean Voyages Institute, during which 20 drifting buoys and one mixed-layer Lagrangian float will be deployed and, possibly, retrieved at completion of the study. The drifters and the float are designed to mimic the motion of different types of debris. Experiments with the float will include a weak buoyancy case in order to study the drift of tiny microplastics that are mixed down by the wind. In other regime, the float will be used to reproduce the dynamics of plankton with its daily migrations inside the mixed layer. Biological panels added to the drifters and the float and experiments onboard the ship will provide new data of the fouling by local pelagic species as well as survival of selected coastal species under conditions different from their natural habitats. Telemetry from the float will monitor in real time the development of a mini-ecosystem and behavior of mobile species. Search for debris hosting ecosystems will be facilitated by using a drone, night-vision instruments, and 150 trackers that will be tagged to large debris in the garbage patch before the study begins. The collected biological samples will provide an unprecedented description of the biotas in the study area. Satellite data and models will play critical roles in the project. The SCUD drift model, based on real-time altimetry and scatterometry data, will be used to optimize expedition routes and to generalize project findings. Project results will, in turn, greatly increase the capabilities of the model by expanding the range of its present parameters to different types of floating items, including microplastics, plankton and oil spills. Synthesized with data collected from the drifters, the model will advance understanding of the vertical structure of rectified, full-complexity near-surface currents and their coupling with the wind. The expanded model will be applied to back-track features in satellite ocean color data, such as chlorophyll blooms, to isolate the role of ocean advection and to identify potential sources of nutrients. These studies will help prepare for such future satellite missions as PACE, SWOT, WACM, etc. and improve such official ocean circulation models as HYCOM. By working together, our team will advance understanding of (i) the complex ocean circulation in the mixed layer, (ii) the role of air-sea coupling in determining the fate of the matter floating on or near the ocean surface, and (iii) the survivorship of the biotas on marine debris and increasing connectivity between coastal and pelagic ecosystems. Knowledge of the reaction of marine species to plastic habitats and their adjustment to anomalous conditions along debris trajectory will help to prepare for impacts of climate change and rising production of plastic on the global ecosystem.

Publications:

Chong, F., Spencer, M., Maximenko, N., Hafner, J., McWhirter, A. C., Helm, R. R. 2023. High concentrations of floating neustonic life in the plastic-rich North Pacific Garbage Patch. PLOS Biology. 21(5), e3001646. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001646

Haram, L. E., Carlton, J. T., Centurioni, L., Choong, H., Cornwell, B., Crowley, M., Egger, M., Hafner, J., Hormann, V., Lebreton, L., Maximenko, N., McCuller, M., Murray, C., Par, J., Shcherbina, A., Wright, C., Ruiz, G. M. 2023. Extent and reproduction of coastal species on plastic debris in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 7(5), 687-697. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-01997-y

Haram, L. E., Carlton, J. T., Ruiz, G. M., Maximenko, N. A. 2020. A Plasticene Lexicon. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 150, 110714. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110714

Maximenko, N., Corradi, P., Law, K. L., Van Sebille, E., Garaba, S. P., Lampitt, R. S., Galgani, F., Martinez-Vicente, V., Goddijn-Murphy, L., Veiga, J. M., Thompson, R. C., Maes, C., Moller, D., Loscher, C. R., Addamo, A. M., Lamson, M. R., Centurioni, L. R., Posth, N. R., Lumpkin, R., Vinci, M., Martins, A. M., Pieper, C. D., Isobe, A., Hanke, G., Edwards, M., Chubarenko, I. P., Rodriguez, E., Aliani, S., Arias, M., Asner, G. P., Brosich, A., Carlton, J. T., Chao, Y., Cook, A., Cundy, A. B., Galloway, T. S., Giorgetti, A., Goni, G. J., Guichoux, Y., Haram, L. E., Hardesty, B. D., Holdsworth, N., Lebreton, L., Leslie, H. A., Macadam-Somer, I., Mace, T., Manuel, M., Marsh, R., Martinez, E., Mayor, D. J., Le Moigne, M., Molina Jack, M. E., Mowlem, M. C., Obbard, R. W., Pabortsava, K., Robberson, B., Rotaru, A., Ruiz, G. M., Spedicato, M. T., Thiel, M., Turra, A., Wilcox, C. 2019. Toward the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System. Frontiers in Marine Science. 6. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00447

van Sebille, E., Aliani, S., Law, K. L., Maximenko, N., Alsina, J. M., Bagaev, A., Bergmann, M., Chapron, B., Chubarenko, I., Cozar, A., Delandmeter, P., Egger, M., Fox-Kemper, B., Garaba, S. P., Goddijn-Murphy, L., Hardesty, B. D., Hoffman, M. J., Isobe, A., Jongedijk, C. E., Kaandorp, M. L. A., Khatmullina, L., Koelmans, A. A., Kukulka, T., Laufkotter, C., Lebreton, L., Lobelle, D., Maes, C., Martinez-Vicente, V., Morales Maqueda, M. A., Poulain-Zarcos, M., Rodriguez, E., Ryan, P. G., Shanks, A. L., Shim, W. J., Suaria, G., Thiel, M., van den Bremer, T. S., Wichmann, D. 2020. The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris. Environmental Research Letters. 15(2), 023003. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab6d7d

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation (BDEC) Project Profile