Plastic pollution is a pervasive global challenge across aquatic systems, from rivers and lakes to coastal and open ocean environments, where plastics of all sizes (nano-, micro-, and macroplastics) are transported, transformed, and accumulated. This session focuses on the multiscale physical transport processes governing plastic fate, including advection, dispersion, settling, resuspension and infiltration, and their controls, such as hydrodynamics, particle properties, and environmental conditions. Particular emphasis is placed on interactions with sediments, biofilms (biofouling), and associated chemical compounds. We welcome contributions from laboratory experiments, field observations, and numerical modeling, as well as integrative approaches bridging methods and scales. Studies addressing source–sink dynamics, cross-domain transport, and innovative detection techniques are encouraged. We also invite work on mitigation and recovery strategies, including engineered and nature-based solutions (e.g., bubble barriers), to advance process-based understanding and inform effective management of plastic pollution in aquatic environments.

• H - Hydrology
• OS - Ocean Sciences
• SY - Science and Society