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Microplastic Biofouling & Sinking — 2D Water Column

Interactive 2D cross-section of the biofouling hypothesis: a biofilm of algae and microbes grows on floating microplastic, raising its effective density until it sinks -- watch a modeled water column plus a live density-vs-time graph, driven by the same growth, mixing and drag physics as the biofouling literature.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Floating plastic in the ocean rarely stays afloat forever. This 2D companion to the 3D biofouling simulator strips the phenomenon down to the dimension that actually drives it: depth. A cross-section of the water column shows each microplastic particle tracking its own biofilm coverage through a light-limited logistic growth model balanced against grazing loss, its effective density from a plastic-core-plus-biofilm-shell mixing rule, and its settling or rising velocity from a real force-balance calculation with a Schiller-Naumann drag correction. A live rolling graph beneath the column plots the ensemble's mean effective density against simulated time, making the biofouling "yo-yo" — sink, lose light, shed biofilm, rise again — directly visible as an oscillating curve. Adjust water temperature and nutrient level to control how fast the biofilm builds, and plastic density and particle radius to control how much fouling it takes to sink.

⚙ Under the hood

A 2D side-on cross-section of the biofouling hypothesis: floating microplastic gets colonized by a living biofilm whose growing mass raises the particle's effective density until it crosses neutral buoyancy and sinks, with a live density-vs-time graph showing the ensemble's rise-sink oscillation directly.

marine pollutionmicroplasticsbiofoulingocean ecologysettling velocity2D

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install