Memory effects are relevant for chaotic advection of inertial particles.

A systematic investigation of the effect of the history force on particle advection is carried out in a paradigmatic model flow of chaotic advection, the von Kármán flow. All investigated properties turn out to heavily depend on the presence of memory when compared to previous studies neglecting this force. We find a weaker tendency for accumulation and for caustics formation. The Lyapunov exponent of transients becomes larger, the escape rates are strongly altered. Attractors are found to be suppressed by the history force, and periodic ones have a very slow, t(-1/2)-type convergence towards the asymptotic form.