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SUMMARY:Fluid Dynamics Challenges in Predicting Plastic Pollution Transpor
 t in the Ocean - Bruce Sutherland\, University of Alberta
DTSTART:20250226T140000Z
DTEND:20250226T150000Z
UID:TALK228685@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anna Walczyk
DESCRIPTION:It is estimated that approximately 20 million tons of plastics
  enter the ocean each year.  But only about 300 thousand tons are observed
  to be floating on the surface or washed up on shore.  That a tiny percent
  of plastic pollution is observed is surprising because most produced plas
 tics are less dense than water.   So where are the missing plastics?  Answ
 ering this question poses several new challenges to the fluid dynamics com
 munity.   In particular\, it is known that large plastic detritus eventual
 ly breaks up into microplastics\, which are more difficult to observe and 
 collect.   But how the break up occurs is not well understood\, particular
 ly for particles that are millimeter scale and smaller.   It is also known
  that marine organisms can grow on floating plastics causing them to becom
 e more dense and sink.  But the settling of such “biofouled” plastics 
 is not well understood. In this talk\, I will first survey some of these c
 hallenges\, based on the outcomes of recent workshops in Banff\, Canada an
 d Lerici\, Italy.  I will then present experimental work examining how buo
 yant plastics can become more dense not due to biology\, but due to the at
 traction of clay\,  glass and sand to microplastics.  
LOCATION:JDB Seminar RM
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