Summer Hydrodynamics as a Dual Driver of Microplastic Retention and Settling in Shallow Water Columns
Hassan Elagami·Benjamin S. Gilfedder·Jan H. Fleckenstein·Christoph K. Thomas·Wolfgang Babel·Marco La Capra·Sven Frei·Pouyan Ahmadi
Abstract In shallow lakes, wind-driven turbulence and thermally induced convection control water mixing. Together, and depending on depth, they interact with microplastic (MP) settling to determine how particles are distributed throughout the water column. To investigate these processes, two MP addition experiments were conducted in a 112 m 3 aquatic mesocosm during summer using 1–5 µm microspheres. High resolution data on MP concentrations, water velocities, wind speeds, and water and air tempe