"Whose plastic is that? Combining virtual particle simulations with Bayesian inference to attribute macroplastic sources and sinks"
Nov 16, 2022, Schedule:
- Nespresso & Teatime 417 DSL - Commons
- 03:00 to 03:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
- Colloquium - F2F 499 DSL / Virtual Zoom
- 03:30 to 04:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting # 942 7359 5552
Abstract:
The world's ocean currents can potentially transport material like plastic over vast scales, connecting sources on one continent to impacts on another. On the other hand, it had recently become clear that most plastics found at any particular location are relatively local, often originating from within the same country. Effective policies to reduce the impact of plastic pollution require knowledge of whose plastic ends up where.
In this seminar, I will present some recent work on using a Bayesian framework to analyze the sources of plastics found on beaches around the world. The input to this analysis comes from Lagrangian ocean analysis simulations with the OceanParcels.org tool, which I will also showcase. I will particularly highlight results from the Indian Ocean, the Galapagos, the South Atlantic and the North Sea.
