Erik van Sebille
Biographic Data
| ID | 6451859 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erik van Sebille |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erik |
| FAMILY NAME | van Sebille |
| SIGNATURE | VAN SEBILLE E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2041-0704 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Exploring how oceanographers can respond to public criticism on the polluting effects of research drifters
Many oceanographers engage with the public to raise awareness of climate change and ocean pollution. However, they may face criticism in such public engagement because of the pollution they cause themselves by not recollecting research equipment, such as drifters, from the ocean. Inadequately addressing this criticism could threaten the effectivity of their public engagement practices. In this study, we explore how oceanographers from Europe and …
Journalism Versus Churnalism
This study evaluates the impact of news factors in press releases sent from scientific organizations on the representation of ocean plastic research in newspapers. We tracked 84 press releases discussing peer-reviewed ocean plastic studies, published between 2017 and 2021 on EurekAlert! and identified their presence in 495 English-language newspapers worldwide. Text comparison showed that press releases contribute highly to the construction of ne…
Modelling size distributions of marine plastics under the influence of continuous cascading fragmentation
Field studies in the global ocean have shown that plastic fragments make up the majority of plastic pollution in terms of abundance. It is not well understood how quickly plastics in the marine environmental fragment, however. Here, we study the fragmentation process in the oceanic environment by considering a model which captures continuous fragmentation of particles over time in a cascading fashion. With this cascading fragmentation model we si…
Global simulations of marine plastic transport show plastic trapping in coastal zones
Global coastlines potentially contain significant amounts of plastic debris, with harmful implications for marine and coastal ecosystems, fisheries and tourism. However, the global amount, distribution and origin of plastic debris on beaches and in coastal waters is currently unknown. Here we analyze beaching and resuspension scenarios using a Lagrangian particle transport model. Throughout the first 5 years after entering the ocean, the model in…
An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter
The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris
Marine plastic debris floating on the ocean surface is a major environmental problem. However, its distribution in the ocean is poorly mapped, and most of the plastic waste estimated to have entered the ocean from land is unaccounted for. Better understanding of how plastic debris is transported from coastal and marine sources is crucial to quantify and close the global inventory of marine plastics, which in turn represents critical information f…
All is not lost
Understanding the global mass inventory is one of the main challenges in present research on plastic marine debris. Especially the fragmentation and vertical transport processes of oceanic plastic are poorly understood. However, whereas fragmentation rates are unknown, information on plastic emissions, concentrations of plastics in the ocean surface layer (OSL) and fragmentation mechanisms is available. Here, we apply a systems engineering analyt…
Modeling marine surface microplastic transport to assess optimal removal locations
Marine plastic pollution is an ever-increasing problem that demands immediate mitigation and reduction plans. Here, a model based on satellite-tracked buoy observations and scaled to a large data set of observations on microplastic from surface trawls was used to simulate the transport of plastics floating on the ocean surface from 2015 to 2025, with the goal to assess the optimal marine microplastic removal locations for two scenarios: removing …
A global inventory of small floating plastic debris
Microplastic debris floating at the ocean surface can harm marine life. Understanding the severity of this harm requires knowledge of plastic abundance and distributions. Dozens of expeditions measuring microplastics have been carried out since the 1970s, but they have primarily focused on theNorth Atlantic and North Pacific accumulation zones, with much sparser coverage elsewhere. Here, we use the largest dataset of microplastic measurements ass…
The discovery of New Zealand's oldest shipwreck – possible evidence of further Dutch exploration of the South Pacific
Origin, dynamics and evolution of ocean garbage patches from observed surface drifters
Much of the debris in the near-surface ocean collects in so-called garbage patches where, due to convergence of the surface flow, the debris is trapped for decades to millennia. Until now, studies modelling the pathways of surface marine debris have not included release from coasts or factored in the possibilities that release concentrations vary with region or that pathways may include seasonal cycles. Here, we use observational data from the Gl…
Origin, dynamics and evolution of ocean garbage patches from observed surface drifters
Much of the debris in the near-surface ocean collects in so-called garbage patches where, due to convergence of the surface flow, the debris is trapped for decades to millennia. Until now, studies modelling the pathways of surface marine debris have not included release from coasts or factored in the possibilities that release concentrations vary with region or that pathways may include seasonal cycles. Here, we use observational data from the Gl…
The discovery of New Zealand's oldest shipwreck – possible evidence of further Dutch exploration of the South Pacific
A global inventory of small floating plastic debris
Microplastic debris floating at the ocean surface can harm marine life. Understanding the severity of this harm requires knowledge of plastic abundance and distributions. Dozens of expeditions measuring microplastics have been carried out since the 1970s, but they have primarily focused on theNorth Atlantic and North Pacific accumulation zones, with much sparser coverage elsewhere. Here, we use the largest dataset of microplastic measurements ass…
Modeling marine surface microplastic transport to assess optimal removal locations
Marine plastic pollution is an ever-increasing problem that demands immediate mitigation and reduction plans. Here, a model based on satellite-tracked buoy observations and scaled to a large data set of observations on microplastic from surface trawls was used to simulate the transport of plastics floating on the ocean surface from 2015 to 2025, with the goal to assess the optimal marine microplastic removal locations for two scenarios: removing …
All is not lost
Understanding the global mass inventory is one of the main challenges in present research on plastic marine debris. Especially the fragmentation and vertical transport processes of oceanic plastic are poorly understood. However, whereas fragmentation rates are unknown, information on plastic emissions, concentrations of plastics in the ocean surface layer (OSL) and fragmentation mechanisms is available. Here, we apply a systems engineering analyt…
The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris
Marine plastic debris floating on the ocean surface is a major environmental problem. However, its distribution in the ocean is poorly mapped, and most of the plastic waste estimated to have entered the ocean from land is unaccounted for. Better understanding of how plastic debris is transported from coastal and marine sources is crucial to quantify and close the global inventory of marine plastics, which in turn represents critical information f…
Modelling size distributions of marine plastics under the influence of continuous cascading fragmentation
Field studies in the global ocean have shown that plastic fragments make up the majority of plastic pollution in terms of abundance. It is not well understood how quickly plastics in the marine environmental fragment, however. Here, we study the fragmentation process in the oceanic environment by considering a model which captures continuous fragmentation of particles over time in a cascading fashion. With this cascading fragmentation model we si…
Global simulations of marine plastic transport show plastic trapping in coastal zones
Global coastlines potentially contain significant amounts of plastic debris, with harmful implications for marine and coastal ecosystems, fisheries and tourism. However, the global amount, distribution and origin of plastic debris on beaches and in coastal waters is currently unknown. Here we analyze beaching and resuspension scenarios using a Lagrangian particle transport model. Throughout the first 5 years after entering the ocean, the model in…
An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter
Journalism Versus Churnalism
This study evaluates the impact of news factors in press releases sent from scientific organizations on the representation of ocean plastic research in newspapers. We tracked 84 press releases discussing peer-reviewed ocean plastic studies, published between 2017 and 2021 on EurekAlert! and identified their presence in 495 English-language newspapers worldwide. Text comparison showed that press releases contribute highly to the construction of ne…
Exploring how oceanographers can respond to public criticism on the polluting effects of research drifters
Many oceanographers engage with the public to raise awareness of climate change and ocean pollution. However, they may face criticism in such public engagement because of the pollution they cause themselves by not recollecting research equipment, such as drifters, from the ocean. Inadequately addressing this criticism could threaten the effectivity of their public engagement practices. In this study, we explore how oceanographers from Europe and …
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution (8 works) · Oceanography (8 works) · Environmental Science (7 works) · Geology (7 works) · Debris (6 works) · Marine debris (6 works) · Fishery (5 works) · Microplastics (5 works) · Plastic pollution (5 works) · Recycling and Waste Management Techniques (4 works)