RT journal article
T1 Marine Litter Windrows: A Strategic Target to Understand and Manage the Ocean Plastic Pollution
A1 Cózar Cabañas, Andrés
A1 Aliani, Stefano
A1 Basurko, Oihane C.
A1 Arias, Manuel
A1 Isobe, Atsuhiko
A1 Topouzelis, Konstantinos
A1 Rubio, Anna
A1 Morales Caselles, María del Carmen
A2 Biología
K1 marine litter
K1 floating plastic
K1 ocean surface
K1 submesoscale
K1 litter impacts
K1 remote sensing
K1 management
AB Windrow is a long-established term for the aggregations of seafoam, seaweeds, plankton and natural debris that appear on the ocean surface. Here, we define a "litter windrow" as any aggregation of floating litter at the submesoscale domain (<10 km horizontally), regardless of the force inducing the surface convergence, be it wind or other forces such as tides or density-driven currents. The marine litter windrows observed to date usually form stripes from tens up to thousands of meters long, with litter densities often exceeding 10 small items ( 2 cm) per m2 or 1 large item ( 2 cm) per 10 m2. Litter windrows are generally overlooked in research due to their dispersion, small size and ephemeral nature. However, applied research on windrows offers unique possibilities to advance on the knowledge and management of marine litter pollution. Litter windrows are hot spots of interaction with marine life. In addition, since the formation of dense litter windrows requires especially high loads of floating litter in the environment, their detection from space-borne sensors, aerial surveys or other platforms might be used to flag areas and periods of severe pollution. Monitoring and assessing of management plans, identification of pollution sources, or impact prevention are identified as some of the most promising fields of application for the marine litter windrows. In the present Perspective, we develop a conceptual framework and point out the main obstacles, opportunities and methodological approaches to address the study of litter windrows.
PB FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
SN 2296-7745
YR 2021
FD 2021-02
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/24712
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/24712
LA eng
NO This study is an outcome of the research project entitled "MappingWindrows as Proxy for Marine Litter Monitoring from Space" (WASP), funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) Contract No. 4000130627/20/NL/GLC, within the Discovery Campaign in Marine Litter. AC had additional support from MIDaS (CTM2016-77106-R, AEI/FEDER/UE), and SA from PRIN 2017-2017WERYZP-EMME project. AI was supported by the Environmental Research and Technology Development Fund (JPMEERF18S20201) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and by SATREPS of Japan International Cooperation Agency and Japan Science and Technology Agency. OB and AR contribution was funded through the EU's LIFE Program (LIFE LEMA project, grant agreement no. LIFE15 ENV/ES/000252). This is contribution number 1016 of AZTI, Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 04-jun-2023