The fate of plastics entering the 3D ocean circulation from rivers discharge is examined through the Lagrangian analysis of neutrally buoyant particles. Particles are released continuously over 1991-2010 at the surface along the coasts according to monthly estimates of rivers plastic waste input. They are advected by daily currents from a state-of-the-art global ocean model at 1/12° resolution. At the end of the simulation, particles remaining in the surface layer of 1~m thickness represent less than 2\% of the total particles released. These are concentrated in the center of subtropical gyres, mostly in the South Indian Ocean and the North Pacific, in relation with the large sources from Asia, and in good agreement with previous 2D numerical experiments in the surface layer. These patterns remain similar down to about 30 m depth, this upper layer strongly influenced by Ekman currents trapping about 20\% of the total released particles. About 50\% of the total released particles r
1Marine Technology and Operational Oceanography Group, Global Change and Physical Oceanography Departament, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
2Área de Oceanografía Operacional, Centro de Investigaciones Oceanográficas e Hidrográficas del Caribe, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
3Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
4Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Université de Toulon, Toulon, France
5International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States
The variability of La Guajira upwelling system, in the south-central Caribbean Sea, is strongly influenced by the intensity and location of the atmospheric Caribbean Low-Level Jet (CLLJ), a near-surface branch of the easterlies, as well as by the regional ocean circulation. During favorable conditions (i.e., strong easterlies blowing almost parallel to the coast), upwelling is enhanced and a large amount of p