Tomoya Kataoka, Hirofumi Hinata, Evaluation of beach cleanup effects
using linear system analysis, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Available
online 7 January 2015, ISSN 0025-326X,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.026.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X14008273)
Abstract: We established a method for evaluating beach cleanup effects
(BCEs) based on a linear system analysis, and investigated factors
determining BCEs. Here we focus on two BCEs: decreasing the total mass
of toxic metals that could leach into a beach from marine plastics and
preventing the fragmentation of marine plastics on the beach. Both BCEs
depend strongly on the average residence time of marine plastics on the
beach (?r) and the period of temporal variability of the input flux of
marine plastics (T). Cleanups on the beach where ?r is longer than T are
more effective than those where ?r is shorter than T. In addition, both
BCEs are the highest near the time when the remnants of plastics reach
the local maximum (peak time). Therefore, it is crucial to understand
the following three factors for effective cleanups: the average
residence time, the plastic input period and the peak time.
Keywords: Beach cleanup effect; Linear system analysis; Average
residence time; Marine plastics