Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3595-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-3595-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
06 Nov 2026
Research article |
| 06 Nov 2026
| 06 Nov 2026
Groundings of drifters in the Wadden Sea inform the transport of floating macroplastic
Marc Emanuel Schneiter
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (IMAU), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (IMAU), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Niels Koppelaar, Christel van Eck, and Erik van Sebille
Geosci. Commun., 9, 525–535, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-525-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-525-2026, 2026
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Climate researchers are key in communicating the climate crisis, but most studies focus on university scientists. Little is known about those working in government organisations. We interviewed 14 Dutch climate scientists at government-funded institutes about opportunities and barriers to advocacy, including concerns about civil servant roles, independence, institutional identity, and unclear rules.
Yente M. J. te Koppele and Erik van Sebille
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6433, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6433, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscience Communication (GC).
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Media extensively cover the environmental and societal consequences of a possible collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC). But are the media reports accurate, and do they adopt the framing of the original scientific articles? We find that, while Dutch news articles often omit scientific uncertainties and emphasize the timing and consequences of an AMOC collapse, they accurately convey the core concepts of AMOC-related scientific research papers.
Ulrike Proske, John Hillier, Stefan Gaillard, Theresa Blume, Eduardo Queiroz Alves, Susanne Buiter, Ken S. Carslaw, Kirsten von Elverfeldt, Tim H. M. van Emmerik, Barbara Ervens, Rolf Hut, Sam Illingworth, Daniel Klotz, and Jonas Pyschik
Geosci. Commun., 9, 371–383, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-371-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-371-2026, 2026
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We explain a new article type that is being introduced in participating EGU publications. "LESSONS" articles describe the Limitations, Errors, Surprises, Shortcomings and Opportunities for New Science emerging from the scientific process. The publication of non-positive results and associated learnings aims to complete an unbiased record of the research effort, contributes to open and transparent science, allows the authors and others to learn, and may open opportunities for new science.
Elena Gianotten, Meike F. Bos, Darshika Manral, Fabio Nauer, Erik Zettler, Lina A. Amaral-Zettler, and Erik van Sebille
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3097, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3097, 2026
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Widespread blooms of the seaweed Sargassum have caused large-scale inundation events in coastal Caribbean and African regions since 2011. Predicting the where these blooms appear, and how the Sargassum moves, depends on the interaction between ocean flow and biological growth. Here, we present a new computational framework for quick and easy simulation of Sargassum. The framework is particularly useful for testing the dependency of different growth models on the Sargassum fate.
Charlotte Braat, Stef Lhermitte, Marie Claire ten Veldhuis, Rolf Hut, and Ruud van der Ent
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1439, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
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Deforestation influences the regional and global water cycle. In this paper, deforestation data is combined with data that links rainfall to where this water evaporated. We estimate to what extent rainfall in the region is potentially impacted by deforestation elsewhere. We find that most regions are mostly impacted by deforestation outside of the region. We could not yet confirm a generic link with actual rainfall due to limitations, complex system interactions and region specific dynamics.
Issufo Halo, Tarron Lamont, Michael Hart-Davis, Pierrick Penven, Isabelle Ansorge, Chris Reason, Bjorn Backeberg, Siren Rühs, Erik van Sebille, Christo Whittle, Annette Samuelsen, Johnny Johannessen, Tamaryn Morris, Marjolaine Krug, Juliet Hermes, Marek Ostrowski, Sheveenah Taukoor, and Babatunde Abiodun
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6573, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6573, 2026
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This review synthesizes two decades of research on the Greater Agulhas Current System, a major ocean current influencing climate, weather and marine life around southern Africa and beyond. Using improved observations, satellites, and computer models, we show how this system transports properties between oceans, affects rainfall and climate patterns, and marine ecosystems. The findings highlight its global climate importance and the need for sustained monitoring to better predict future change.
Huiwen Zhang, Jianzhi Dong, Xiaoqi Kang, Lingna Wei, Ying Zhu, Rolf Hut, and Vincent Hoogelander
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-792, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-792, 2026
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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We present SUPER v2, a 3-hourly, 0.1° precipitation dataset for global land areas covering 2000–2023. It merges satellite and reanalysis products using a statistical uncertainty-based framework that minimizes reliance on gauge observations, making it particularly suitable for data-sparse regions. Evaluation using over 5,000 independent gauges shows that SUPER v2 achieves higher accuracy than existing products, supporting global drought monitoring and hydrological modeling.
Meike F. Bos, Irina I. Rypina, Larry J. Pratt, and Erik van Sebille
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-64, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-64, 2026
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Macroplastic items in the ocean can move differently than the water surrounding them, because their size and density are different than that of water. We investigate how to implement this effect for macroplastic items in simulations in the North West European Shelf region. For this region we find that the large drag force makes the macroplastics trajectories very closely follow the water itself, meaning that simulating macroplastic is simpler than previously expected.
Erik van Sebille, Celine Weel, Rens Vliegenthart, and Mark Bos
Geosci. Commun., 9, 69–86, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-69-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-69-2026, 2026
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Many climate scientists intuitively fear their credibility decreases when they engage in advocacy. We find that the opposite is the case. By surveying almost 1000 Dutch adults, we found that the credibility of a fictional climate scientists who wrote an article about the greening of gardens was higher when that text included advocacy statements, compared to when it was
neutral. This is because personalization increases the goodwill of readers for the academic who writes a text.
Jimena Medina-Rubio, Madlene Nussbaum, Ton S. van den Bremer, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 22, 49–74, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-49-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-49-2026, 2026
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We study how tides, wind, and waves interact at the ocean surface by tracking ultra-thin drifters released in the southern North Sea for two months. Using model data together with data-driven machine learning models, we determine the relative contribution of each forcing mechanism in driving the drifters' velocity and improve the prediction of their trajectories. We also test the generalisability of this method by applying it to the same drifters in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6589–6606, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6589-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6589-2025, 2025
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Commercial microwave links (CMLs), part of mobile phone networks, transmit comparable signals as instruments specially designed to estimate evaporation. Therefore, we investigate if CMLs could be used to estimate evaporation, even though they have not been designed for this purpose. Our results illustrate the potential of using CMLs to estimate evaporation, especially given their global coverage, but also outline some major drawbacks, often a consequence of unfavourable design choices for CMLs.
Constantijn G. B. ter Horst, Gijsbert A. Vis, Judith Jongen-Boekee, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis, Rolf W. Hut, and Bas J. H. van de Wiel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6853–6867, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6853-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6853-2025, 2025
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We present the the Fine Resolution Adaptable Distributed Temperature Sensing (FRADTS) method, which allows for mm-resolution probing of vertical temperature profiles, using coil-based distributed temperature sensing. The method is fully open source and parametric, such that unique field setups can be generated and reproduced. The method is extensively tested within a ~10cm grass canopy in a field campaign.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6143–6165, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6143-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6143-2025, 2025
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Commercial microwave links (CMLs), part of mobile phone networks, transmit comparable signals to instruments specially designed to estimate evaporation. Therefore, we investigate if CMLs could be used to estimate evaporation, even though they have not been designed for this purpose. Our results illustrate the potential for using CMLs to estimate evaporation, especially given their global coverage, but also outline some major drawbacks, often a consequence of unfavourable design choices for CMLs.
Claudio M. Pierard, Siren Rühs, Laura Gómez-Navarro, Michael Charles Denes, Florian Meirer, Thierry Penduff, and Erik van Sebille
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 411–438, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-411-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-411-2025, 2025
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Particle-tracking simulations compute how ocean currents transport material. However, initializing these simulations is often ad hoc. Here, we explore how two different strategies (releasing particles over space or over time) compare. Specifically, we compare the variability in particle trajectories to the variability of particles computed in a 50-member ensemble simulation. We find that releasing the particles over 20 weeks gives variability that is most like that in the ensemble.
Aike Vonk, Mark Bos, and Erik van Sebille
Geosci. Commun., 8, 297–317, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-8-297-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-8-297-2025, 2025
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Research institutes communicate scientific findings through press releases, which journalists use to write news articles. We examined how journalists use content from press releases about ocean plastic research. Our findings show that they closely follow the press releases story, primarily quoting involved scientists without seeking external perspectives. Causing the focus to stay on researchers, personalizing science rather than addressing the broader societal dimensions of plastic pollution.
Vesna Bertoncelj, Furu Mienis, Paolo Stocchi, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 21, 945–964, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-945-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-945-2025, 2025
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This study explores ocean currents around Curaçao and how land-derived substances like pollutants and nutrients travel in the water. Most substances move northwest, following the main current, but at times, ocean eddies spread them in other directions. This movement may link polluted areas to pristine coral reefs, impacting marine ecosystems. Understanding these patterns helps inform conservation and pollution management around Curaçao.
Nieske Vergunst, Tugce Varol, and Erik van Sebille
Geosci. Commun., 8, 67–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-8-67-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-8-67-2025, 2025
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We developed and evaluated a board game about sea level rise to engage young adults. We found that the game positively influenced participants' perceptions of their impact on sea level rise, regardless of their prior familiarity with science. This study suggests that interactive and relatable activities can effectively engage audiences on climate issues, highlighting the potential for similar approaches in public science communication.
Mark V. Elbertsen, Erik van Sebille, and Peter K. Bijl
Clim. Past, 21, 441–464, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-441-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-441-2025, 2025
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This work verifies the remarkable finds of late Eocene Antarctic-sourced iceberg-rafted debris on the South Orkney Microcontinent. We find that these icebergs must have been on the larger end of the size scale compared to today’s icebergs due to faster melting in the warmer Eocene climate. The study was performed using a high-resolution model in which individual icebergs were followed through time.
Siren Rühs, Ton van den Bremer, Emanuela Clementi, Michael C. Denes, Aimie Moulin, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 21, 217–240, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-217-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-217-2025, 2025
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Simulating the transport of floating particles on the ocean surface is crucial for solving many societal issues. Here, we investigate how the representation of wind-generated surface waves impacts particle transport simulations. We find that different wave-driven processes can alter transport patterns and that commonly adopted approximations are not always adequate. This suggests that ideally coupled ocean–wave models should be used for surface particle transport simulations.
Jerom P. M. Aerts, Jannis M. Hoch, Gemma Coxon, Nick C. van de Giesen, and Rolf W. Hut
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5011–5030, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5011-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5011-2024, 2024
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For users of hydrological models, model suitability often hinges on how well simulated outputs match observed discharge. This study highlights the importance of including discharge observation uncertainty in hydrological model performance assessment. We highlight the need to account for this uncertainty in model comparisons and introduce a practical method suitable for any observational time series with available uncertainty estimates.
Anna Leerink, Mark Bos, Daan Reijnders, and Erik van Sebille
Geosci. Commun., 7, 201–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-201-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-201-2024, 2024
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Climate scientists who communicate to a broad audience may be reluctant to write in a more personal style, as they assume that it hurts their credibility. To test this assumption, we asked 100 Dutch people to rate the credibility of a climate scientist. We varied how the author of the article addressed the reader and found that the degree of personalization did not have a measurable impact on the credibility of the author. Thus, we conclude that personalization may not hurt credibility.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Aart Overeem, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, 2024
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Microwave links, often part of mobile phone networks, can be used to measure rainfall along the link path by determining the signal loss caused by rainfall. We use high-frequency data of multiple microwave links to recreate commonly used sampling strategies. For time intervals up to 1 min, the influence of sampling strategies on estimated rainfall intensities is relatively little, while for intervals longer than 5–15 min, the sampling strategy can have significant influences on the estimates.
Frances Wijnen, Madelijn Strick, Mark Bos, and Erik van Sebille
Geosci. Commun., 7, 91–100, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-91-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-91-2024, 2024
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Climate scientists are urged to communicate climate science; there is very little evidence about what types of communication work well for which audiences. We have performed a systematic literature review to analyze what is known about the efficacy of climate communication by scientists. While we have found more than 60 articles in the last 10 years about climate communication activities by scientists, only 7 of these included some form of evaluation of the impact of the activity.
Philippe F. V. W. Frankemölle, Peter D. Nooteboom, Joe Scutt Phillips, Lauriane Escalle, Simon Nicol, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 20, 31–41, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-31-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-31-2024, 2024
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Tuna fisheries in the Pacific often use drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) to attract fish that are advected by subsurface flow through underwater appendages. Using a particle advection model, we find that virtual particles advected by surface flow are displaced farther than virtual dFADs. We find a relation between El Niño–Southern Oscillation and circular motion in some areas, influencing dFAD densities. This information helps us to understand processes that drive dFAD distribution.
Tor Nordam, Ruben Kristiansen, Raymond Nepstad, Erik van Sebille, and Andy M. Booth
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5339–5363, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5339-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5339-2023, 2023
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We describe and compare two common methods, Eulerian and Lagrangian models, used to simulate the vertical transport of material in the ocean. They both solve the same transport problems but use different approaches for representing the underlying equations on the computer. The main focus of our study is on the numerical accuracy of the two approaches. Our results should be useful for other researchers creating or using these types of transport models.
Pau Wiersma, Jerom Aerts, Harry Zekollari, Markus Hrachowitz, Niels Drost, Matthias Huss, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, and Rolf Hut
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5971–5986, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5971-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5971-2022, 2022
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We test whether coupling a global glacier model (GloGEM) with a global hydrological model (PCR-GLOBWB 2) leads to a more realistic glacier representation and to improved basin runoff simulations across 25 large-scale basins. The coupling does lead to improved glacier representation, mainly by accounting for glacier flow and net glacier mass loss, and to improved basin runoff simulations, mostly in strongly glacier-influenced basins, which is where the coupling has the most impact.
Stefanie L. Ypma, Quinten Bohte, Alexander Forryan, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, Andy Donnelly, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 18, 1477–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1477-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1477-2022, 2022
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In this research we aim to improve cleanup efforts on the Galapagos Islands of marine plastic debris when resources are limited and the distribution of the plastic on shorelines is unknown. Using a network that describes the flow of macroplastic between the islands we have identified the most efficient cleanup locations, quantified the impact of targeting these locations and showed that shorelines where the plastic is unlikely to leave are likely efficient cleanup locations.
Jerom P. M. Aerts, Rolf W. Hut, Nick C. van de Giesen, Niels Drost, Willem J. van Verseveld, Albrecht H. Weerts, and Pieter Hazenberg
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4407–4430, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4407-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4407-2022, 2022
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In recent years gridded hydrological modelling moved into the realm of hyper-resolution modelling (<10 km). In this study, we investigate the effect of varying grid-cell sizes for the wflow_sbm hydrological model. We used a large sample of basins from the CAMELS data set to test the effect that varying grid-cell sizes has on the simulation of streamflow at the basin outlet. Results show that there is no single best grid-cell size for modelling streamflow throughout the domain.
Rolf Hut, Niels Drost, Nick van de Giesen, Ben van Werkhoven, Banafsheh Abdollahi, Jerom Aerts, Thomas Albers, Fakhereh Alidoost, Bouwe Andela, Jaro Camphuijsen, Yifat Dzigan, Ronald van Haren, Eric Hutton, Peter Kalverla, Maarten van Meersbergen, Gijs van den Oord, Inti Pelupessy, Stef Smeets, Stefan Verhoeven, Martine de Vos, and Berend Weel
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5371–5390, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5371-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5371-2022, 2022
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With the eWaterCycle platform, we are providing the hydrological community with a platform to conduct their research that is fully compatible with the principles of both open science and FAIR science. The eWatercyle platform gives easy access to well-known hydrological models, big datasets and example experiments. Using eWaterCycle hydrologists can easily compare the results from different models, couple models and do more complex hydrological computational research.
Reint Fischer, Delphine Lobelle, Merel Kooi, Albert Koelmans, Victor Onink, Charlotte Laufkötter, Linda Amaral-Zettler, Andrew Yool, and Erik van Sebille
Biogeosciences, 19, 2211–2234, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2211-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2211-2022, 2022
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Since current estimates show that only about 1 % of the all plastic that enters the ocean is floating at the surface, we look at subsurface processes that can cause vertical movement of (micro)plastic. We investigate how modelled algal attachment and the ocean's vertical movement can cause particles to sink and oscillate in the open ocean. Particles can sink to depths of > 5000 m in regions with high wind intensity and mainly remain close to the surface with low winds and biological activity.
Victor Onink, Erik van Sebille, and Charlotte Laufkötter
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1995–2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1995-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1995-2022, 2022
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Turbulent mixing is a vital process in 3D modeling of particle transport in the ocean. However, since turbulence occurs on very short spatial scales and timescales, large-scale ocean models generally have highly simplified turbulence representations. We have developed parametrizations for the vertical turbulent transport of buoyant particles that can be easily applied in a large-scale particle tracking model. The predicted vertical concentration profiles match microplastic observations well.
Mikael L. A. Kaandorp, Stefanie L. Ypma, Marijke Boonstra, Henk A. Dijkstra, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 18, 269–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-269-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-269-2022, 2022
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A large amount of marine litter, such as plastics, is located on or around beaches. Both the total amount of this litter and its transport are poorly understood. We investigate this by training a machine learning model with data of cleanup efforts on Dutch beaches between 2014 and 2019, obtained by about 14 000 volunteers. We find that Dutch beaches contain up to 30 000 kg of litter, largely depending on tides, oceanic transport, and how exposed the beaches are.
Peter D. Nooteboom, Peter K. Bijl, Christian Kehl, Erik van Sebille, Martin Ziegler, Anna S. von der Heydt, and Henk A. Dijkstra
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 357–371, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-357-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-357-2022, 2022
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Having descended through the water column, microplankton in ocean sediments represents the ocean surface environment and is used as an archive of past and present surface oceanographic conditions. However, this microplankton is advected by turbulent ocean currents during its sinking journey. We use simulations of sinking particles to define ocean bottom provinces and detect these provinces in datasets of sedimentary microplankton, which has implications for palaeoclimate reconstructions.
Caitlyn A. Hall, Sheila M. Saia, Andrea L. Popp, Nilay Dogulu, Stanislaus J. Schymanski, Niels Drost, Tim van Emmerik, and Rolf Hut
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 647–664, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-647-2022, 2022
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Impactful open, accessible, reusable, and reproducible hydrologic research practices are being embraced by individuals and the community, but taking the plunge can seem overwhelming. We present the Open Hydrology Principles and Practical Guide to help hydrologists move toward open science, research, and education. We discuss the benefits and how hydrologists can overcome common challenges. We encourage all hydrologists to join the open science community (https://open-hydrology.github.io).
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Short summary
We study the transport and land-water transitions of 24 small floating position-trackers that are representative of plastic litter, which we released in the Wadden Sea, a region strongly influenced by tides and wind. We describe how to automatically identify from their tracks whether a tracker is afloat or not, and relate the transitions between afloat and beached to sea and wind conditions. Our method can be used in model simulations and in the planning of beach cleanups.
We study the transport and land-water transitions of 24 small floating position-trackers that...
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