1. Frontal processes as drivers of floating marine debris in coastal areas.
- Author
-
Le, Phuc TD., Hardesty, Britta Denise, Auman, Heidi J., and Fischer, Andrew M.
- Subjects
- *
FRONTS (Meteorology) , *TERRITORIAL waters , *COASTS , *INTERNAL waves , *MARINE pollution , *MARINE debris - Abstract
The influence of floating marine debris (FMD) on coastal and marine communities and ecosystems is undeniable, and attention is increasingly focused on ecologically and biologically important coastal areas. To protect marine life and valuable resources from FMD pollution, identifying FMD accumulation zones is recognized as a priority. One of the coastal ocean processes found governing the distribution of FMD is water convergence (frontal zones). These fronts are driven by various oceanographical factors. To date, the transport and accumulation of FMD in relation to fronts in coastal areas is poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we reviewed various types of ocean fronts as well as FMD accumulation along frontal zones in coastal areas defined as the region between the coastline and the shelf break. Frontogenesis (physical processes related to frontal formation) were reviewed alongside studies on FMD accumulation in frontal zones to identify physical factors that drive the pathways and accumulation in these areas. This review will contribute to our understanding of accumulation hotspots of FMD within ocean fronts and identify gaps for further research on developing a proxy for FMD hotspot identification in ecologically important coastal areas. • Different frontal types are generated by various oceanographic processes, and coastal fronts are mainly driven by winds, tides, currents, upwelling and downwelling, bottom topography, plumes, and internal waves. • In coastal zones, floating marine debris accumulates along water convergences including gyres, eddies, slicks, salinity fronts, density fronts, thermohaline fronts and tidal fronts. • Frontal accumulated debris has an impact on marine species in coastal waters including important marine taxa such as seabirds, dolphins, and turtles. • Study on FMD accumulation in frontal zones has received more attention, with 72% of reviewed papers were published between 2017 and 2023, and the highest number of published papers (10 papers) in 2021. • This study suggests that future research exploring the impacts of frontogenesis on the transport and accumulation of FMD over the continental shelf zone would be valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF