Ocean plastic pollution is a problem of increasing magnitude; yet, the amount of plastic at the sea surface is much lower than expected. Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation can induce photodegradation, but its importance in determining the longevity of floating plastic remains unconstrained. Here, we measured photodegradation rates of different plastic types slightly larger than microplastics (virgin polymers and floating plastic debris) under simulated marine conditions. UV irradiation caused all plastic types to leach dissolved organic carbon, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases. The release of photodegradation products translates to degradation rates of 1.7–2.3 % yr−1 of the tested plastic particles normalized to conditions as found in the subtropical surface ocean. Modelling the accumulation of floating plastic debris, our results show that solar UV radiation could already have degraded 7 to 22 % of all floating plastic that has ever been released to the sea.
","AbstractOtherLang":null,"BibLvlCode":"AS","StandardTitle":"Plastic photodegradation under simulated marine conditions","OrigTitleLangCode":"en","OrigTitleLangCodeExtended":"eng","OrigTitleLangID":15,"DateLastModified":{"date":"2026-06-02 01:32:16.211035","timezone_type":1,"timezone":"+02:00"},"UserAccessRight":null,"UserAccID":null,"AuthorKeywords":"Microplastic; Photodegradation; Ocean plastic paradox","OtherDescriptors":null,"Notes":null,"AnaPub":2023,"MonPub":null,"DateUpdate":"2023-02-14","DateCreate":"2023-02-14","SecASFANote":null,"ConfID":null,"PeerRev":1,"VlizCoreFlag":1,"WoScode":"WOS:000925226000001","VABBcode":null,"OpenAcc":1,"DOI":"10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544"},"refs":null,"anarec":{"AnaID":361138,"PubliDate":2023,"Pagination":"114544","XtraPublOfAnaID":null,"ISBN":null,"Volume":"187","Issue":null,"BRefMon":null,"BRefMonRR":null,"BRefXtra":null,"BRefXtraRR":null,"SerBRefID":43520,"SerRR":"Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363","StandardTitleSer":"Marine Pollution Bulletin","ISSN":"0025-326X","AbbrevSer":"Mar. Pollut. Bull.","StandardTitleMon":null,"StartPage":null,"Pages":null,"ToPubliDate":null,"BRefBibLvlCode":"S","SerNotes":null},"monrec":null,"serrec":null,"relations":null,"relationsRev":null,"addrec":null,"othpubs":null,"ownerships":null,"authors":[{"AutName":"Delre","Firstname":"Annalisa","Initials":"A.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":515177,"OrderNr":1,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Goudriaan","Firstname":"Maaike","Initials":"M.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":460316,"OrderNr":2,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":null,"PersID":42023,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Hernando-Morales","Firstname":"Victor","Initials":"V.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":460168,"OrderNr":3,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":"0000-0003-4938-3236","PersID":40401,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Vaksmaa","Firstname":"Annika","Initials":"A.","Affiliation":"MMB","Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":356691,"OrderNr":4,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":"0000-0001-8794-8942","PersID":36939,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Ndhlovu","Firstname":"Rachel","Initials":"R.T.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":515181,"OrderNr":5,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Baas","Firstname":"Marianne","Initials":"M.","Affiliation":"NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry","Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":193338,"OrderNr":6,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"BGC","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; NIOZ Texel; Afdeling Mariene Organische Biogeochemie","ORCID":"0000-0002-5449-8401","PersID":29637,"InsID":13083},{"AutName":"Keijzer","Firstname":"Edwin","Initials":"E.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":203558,"OrderNr":7,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MTE","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; NIOZ Texel; Afdeling Mariene Technologie","ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":13085},{"AutName":"de Groot","Firstname":"Tim","Initials":"T.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":469404,"OrderNr":8,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":null,"PersID":40659,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Zeghal","Firstname":"Emna","Initials":"E.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":460169,"OrderNr":9,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":"0000-0002-4542-7222","PersID":40398,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Egger","Firstname":"Matthias","Initials":"M.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":247880,"OrderNr":10,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":40875,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Röckmann","Firstname":"Thomas","Initials":"T.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":237088,"OrderNr":11,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Niemann","Firstname":"Helge","Initials":"H.","Affiliation":"MMB","Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":358853,"AutID":287313,"OrderNr":12,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":null,"PersID":35336,"InsID":13655}],"mapdetails":null,"datasets":null,"monographs":null,"monparts":null,"serparts":null,"BEntOpen":358853,"BEntPrivate":null,"availability":[{"BInstID":386739,"LibID":2779,"BRefID":361138,"EmbargoDate":null,"FullEmbargoDate":null,"PhysMedID":16,"hasOCRd":1,"ShelfLocCode":"386739","RFID":null,"PaidValue":null,"Medium":"Server","Description":null,"Acronym":null,"Library":"NIOZ","DutchTerm":null,"URL":null,"ClassifID":260,"Classification":"NIOZ Open Repository","ReqLink":null,"ClassifTypID":1,"URLLocation":"https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/","SubDir":1,"InternalReq":null,"LoggedInReq":null,"Disclaimer":"Disclaimer_NIOZ","DutchDisclaimer":null,"FileFormat":".pdf","FileDescr":"pdf","InsPub":1,"InsID":397,"FileFormID":6,"LendableFlag":null,"PublicFlag":1,"orderLib":"NIOZ","Notes":null,"AccConID":21,"AccessConstraint":"Attribution (CC BY)","LicURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}],"litstyles":null,"thespers":null,"arch2discl":805,"SERpubls":[{"PublName":"Macmillan","City":"London"}],"MONpubls":null,"pictures":[],"thestermsPath":null,"thestermsASFA":null,"taxtermsASFA":null,"geotermsASFA":null,"collections":null,"conf":null,"proj":null,"Physdatasets":null,"spcols":{"805":{"SpName":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee","SpColID":805,"ParSpColID":null,"TopParID":null,"ShortName":"NIOZ","URLLocation":"https://www.vliz.be/imis/nioz/imis.php?refid=","LibID":2779,"OpenRepoFlag":1,"SpTypID":1,"TopParIDNotWebsite":null,"SpColPath":"NIOZ"}},"doi":null,"publs":null,"serparttypes":null,"monauthors":null,"MParts":null,"SParts":null,"hLibs":null,"langs":[{"BEntID":358853,"AbstractFlag":0,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"},{"BEntID":358853,"AbstractFlag":1,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"}],"urls":[{"URL":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544","externalID":"10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114544","URLTypeCode":"DOI","URLID":109735,"URLTypID":13,"URLType":"DOI","URLPrefix":"http://dx.doi.org/"}],"thesterms":null,"taxterms":null,"geoterms":null,"othterms":null,"asfacodes":null,"asfa2codes":null,"thestermsFRIS":null,"taxtermsFRIS":null,"geotermsFRIS":null,"othtermsFRIS":null,"resmessage":"","complete":1,"sessions":{"newSesName":"Leonne.van.der.Weegen@nioz.nl","newSesDate":{"date":"2023-02-14 09:20:16.130000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"},"updSesName":"Leonne.van.der.Weegen@nioz.nl","updSesDate":{"date":"2023-02-14 09:20:16.130000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"}}}