Monitoring submerged riverine macroplastics using echo sounding

  1. Broere, Sophie 1
  2. van Emmerik, Tim 2
  3. González-Fernández, Daniel 3
  4. Luxemburg, Willem 1
  5. Cózar, Andrés 3
  6. van de Giesen, Nick 1
  7. de Schipper, Matthieu 4
  1. 1 Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
  2. 2 Hydrology and Quantitative Management Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
  3. 3 Department of Biology, University of Cadiz, Spain
  4. 4 Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Mostrar afiliaciones +
Actas:
EGU General Assembly 2020 Conference Abstracts

Año de publicación: 2020

Páginas: 8321

Tipo: Aportación congreso

DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU2020-8321 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Resumen

Riverine plastics cause severe global problems, regarding the risk for human health and environmental damage. The major part of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans is transported via rivers. However, estimations of global quantities of plastics entering the oceans are associated with great uncertainties due to methodological difficulties to accurately quantify land-based plastic fluxes into the ocean. Yet, there are no standard methods to determine quantities of plastics in rivers. For the sake of reducing the amount of plastic waste in the natural environment, information on plastic fluxes from rivers to seas is needed. Focussing on monitoring of the plastic litter that is transported by rivers is useful because measures can easier be implemented in rivers than in seas. Moreover, consistent measuring techniques are crucial to optimise prevention-and mitigation strategies, especially in countries with high expected river plastic emissions