CAREER: Marine Debris at Coastlines: predicting sources from drift, dispersion, and beaching via experiments and multiscale stochastic models

海洋和湖泊中漂浮的海洋垃圾，从微塑料到较大的垃圾，大小不等，是一个紧迫的全球问题，预计在未来几年和几十年内投入将增加。海洋废弃物污染的最严重影响往往发生在海岸线，因为那里的经济和生态系统对污染更为敏感，而且废弃物可能在那里积聚到很高的浓度。目前对海岸线附近海洋碎片运动的了解不足以预测碎片如何漂移、分散和搁浅。该项目试图通过调查海岸线海洋废弃物的命运和迁移来填补这一知识空白。这项研究将产生新的和更准确的模型，用于不同大小和复杂形状的颗粒如何与海岸线上复杂的波浪和湍流相互作用并被其运输。该项目还将包括重要的教育活动，包括一项倡议，利用各机构的专业知识，改善研究生培训，并与当地一所高中合作，增加来自不同背景的学生对工程研究的参与，该项目的目标是构建海岸线海洋垃圾的多尺度随机模型，包括垃圾颗粒如何漂移、分散和搁浅。虽然海洋废弃物研究的大多数努力集中在确定开放沃茨和海滩沉积物中污染的特征，但本项目将考虑废弃物大小、形状和密度的复杂性如何与沿海环境中水流条件的复杂性联合收割机结合起来，以确定海洋废弃物的命运和迁移。多尺度的实验和理论方法将产生填充整个模型所需的参数。在实验方面，这将包括在不同的水波水槽和盆地先进的流量和颗粒跟踪方法。在理论方面，这将包括通过数学建模和实验数据分析，发现碎片漂移、散布和搁浅的适当比例关系和无量纲描述。总的来说，预计这些结果将为防止碎片污染的沿海保护提供信息。该项目由NSF ENG/CBET流体动力学和环境工程项目共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Floating marine debris in oceans and lakes across a range of sizes from microplastics to larger debris is a pressing global issue with inputs projected to increase in the coming years and decades. Often, the worst impacts of marine debris pollution are at coastlines, where economies and ecosystems are much more sensitive to pollution and where debris can accumulate to high concentrations. Current knowledge of marine debris motion near coastlines is insufficient to predict how debris drift, disperse, and become beached. This project seeks to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the fate and transport of marine debris at coastlines. This research will produce new and more accurate models for how particles of different sizes and complex shapes interact with and are transported by complex wavy and turbulent flows at coastlines. The project will also include significant educational activities, including an initiative to leverage expertise across institutions to improve graduate student training and increase participation of students from diverse backgrounds in engineering research in partnership with a local high school.The goal of this project is to construct a multiscale stochastic model of marine debris at coastlines that includes how debris particles drift, disperse, and become beached. While most efforts in marine debris research have concentrated on characterizing pollution in open waters and in beach sediment, this project will consider how the complexities of debris size, shape, and density combine with the complexity of flow conditions in the coastal environment to determine marine debris fate and transport. Experimental and theoretical approaches at multiple scales will produce the parameters required to populate the overall model. On the experimental side, this will include advanced flow and particle tracking methods in different water wave flumes and basins. On the theoretical side, this will include discovering appropriate scaling relationships and dimensionless descriptions of debris drift, dispersion, and beaching through mathematical modelling and experimental data analysis. Overall, the results are expected to inform solutions for coastal protection against debris pollution. The project is co-funded by the NSF ENG/CBET Fluid Dynamics and Environmental Engineering programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.