AI Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates how long buoyant microplastic particles take to reach the beach after being released in different ocean zones, measuring their movement to understand cross-shore transport velocities.
- - In the pre-breaking region, these particles move towards the shore at speeds similar to that of the surrounding water, while in the surf zone, their speeds increase, aligning more with the speed of the waves.
- - Particles with low Dean numbers (indicating slower fall speeds) are found to be transported faster since they're more likely to stay near the surface of the water, leading to a formula that can predict their transport velocities under various wave conditions, which aligns with previous studies.
Article Abstract
This paper presents experimental measurements of beaching times for buoyant microplastic particles released, both in the pre-breaking region and within the surf zone. The beaching times are used to quantify cross-shore Lagrangian transport velocities of the microplastics. Prior to breaking the particles travel onshore with a velocity close to the Lagrangian fluid particle velocity, regardless of particle characteristics. In the surf zone the Lagrangian velocities of the microplastics increase and become closer to the wave celerity. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that particles having low Dean numbers (dimensionless fall velocity) are transported at higher mean velocities, as they have a larger tendency to be at the free-surface relative to particles with higher Dean numbers. An empirical relation is formulated for predicting the cross-shore Lagrangian transport velocities of buoyant microplastic particles, valid for both non-breaking and breaking irregular waves. The expression matches the present experiments well, in addition to two prior studies.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114610 | DOI Listing |
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