Search

Data relative to the article Low-density plastic debris dispersion beneath the Mediterranean Sea surface (Baudena et al., 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c08873). The dataset contains all the data necessary to produce the main figures of this publication(e.g. Fig2.nc file contains all the data used to produce Figure 2). In particular the available data are: - the concentration of Low-Density Plastic (LDP) on the Mediterranean virtual seafloor at 1000 m (defined as the Mediterranean seafloor, with the difference that the locations deeper than 1000 m were set to 1000 m depth due to computational constraints). A deeper virtual seafloor was used (at 2000 m) with the exception of Scenario 4 (Fig3BCDE.nc). - the lateral distance traveled by simulated LDP debris during their sinking from the sea surface until they reach the virtual seafloor (Fig3F.nc) - the concentration of LDP particles deposited less than 20 km from the coast (called the coastal strip) for each country; in addition, we provide the percentage of these particles which were released from the country's own land sources, other countries, or shipping lanes (Fig4.nc and Coastal_Stat_Scenario1_4.txt) - the relationship relationship between the sinking speed from the drag model (SS_DM) and the difference of the densities of LDP particles and seawater (Fig2.nc) - the surface sinking rate used as initial condition to release particles at the Mediterranean Sea surface (Fig3A.nc; also available at 10.5281/zenodo.5931213) For further information, or report any eventual issue, please feel free to contact alberto.baudena@gmail.com

Marine debris has been defined as any manufactured or processed solid waste material that enters the marine environment from any source. While plastics constitute a lower percentage of discarded waste, they are the most important part of marine litter, comprising sometimes up to 100 % for floating items. Plastics have been considered an environmental and pollution threat to the marine environment whose importance will increase through the 21st century. In Mediterranean Sea more than 70 % of plastic litters comes from land-based source. Once in the marine environment debris may remain for many years. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most affected by floating plastic debris however scientific investigation on the impact of microplastics isrecent and results beginning to emerge. Here we report a study on the abundance, size and spatio-temporal distribution of microplastic and zooplakton carried out in summer 2013 in the Ligurian Sea. Surface floating microplastics abundance and area per square kilometer were calculated and compared to the size distribution and mean spatial trends of the neustonic plankton.

Marine litter in the Mediterrranean and Black Seas