Modelling the exchange of microplastics between the inner surf zone and the open sea under different beach configurations

Abstract

This document shows the procedure carried out to model the Exchange of small plastics between the inland surfing area and the open sea under different beach configurations. The damage caused by plastics to the ocean and the fauna it has contained for years is an emerging and increasingly studied problem. To fully understand the dynamics that a plastic can have on the surface of the water you must know the morphodynamics of the beaches, where many events occur simultaneously at different scales that continuously deform the beach, is a complex and difficult to predict place. Using a model called MORFO55 developed by the Group of Nonlinear Fluid Dynamics of the UPC we managed to obtain reliable data from this morphodynamics and with this data and using Matlab software we developed an algorithm capable of showing the dynamics of a plastic under different configurations. The main objective of this project is to observe how the formation of a rhythmic sand pattern along the coast called crescent bar or crescent bar influences and therefore the formation of a system of deep currents influences the dynamics. of these plastics on the surface of the water.