Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea
Globally, the abundance of microplastics in our oceans is increasing, including within the remote locations of the polar regions. The Barents Sea, which adjoins the Arctic Ocean, is an area of high primary productivity that, owing to the convergence of regional currents, has been mooted as a potenti...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 2024-09-15T17:53:59+00:00 Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea Emberson-Marl, H. Coppock, R. L. Cole, M. Godley, B. J. Mimpriss, N. Nelms, S. E. Lindeque, P. K. Natural Environment Research Council 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 2024-08-20T04:05:48Z Globally, the abundance of microplastics in our oceans is increasing, including within the remote locations of the polar regions. The Barents Sea, which adjoins the Arctic Ocean, is an area of high primary productivity that, owing to the convergence of regional currents, has been mooted as a potential sixth ocean gyre that may coalesce high concentrations of plastic debris. This study aimed to explore data collected from large volume samples of sub-surface water collected from transects through the Barents Sea to quantify and characterise microplastics in this region, with a focus on potential impacts to zooplankton. Overall, the mean microplastic abundance in the Barents Sea was 0.011 microplastics m -3 (range: 0.007 – 0.015 m -3 ). Microplastics were found in higher abundances nearer land mass at the southern end of the transect and northwards towards the ice edge, recording 0.015 microplastics m -3 during both transect legs. Microplastics were predominantly fibrous (92.1%) and typically blue (79%) or red (17%) in colour. A range of polymers were identified including polyester (3.8%), copolymer blends (2.7%), elastomers (7.1%) and acrylics (10.6%), however semi-synthetic polymers dominated, comprising 74.4% of particles found. Higher microplastic concentrations in the northernmost transect may stem from melting sea-ice, while the higher concentrations in the southernmost transect likely derive from the long-range transport of microplastics via currents from Europe. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice Zooplankton Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Marine Science 10 |
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Frontiers (Publisher) |
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Globally, the abundance of microplastics in our oceans is increasing, including within the remote locations of the polar regions. The Barents Sea, which adjoins the Arctic Ocean, is an area of high primary productivity that, owing to the convergence of regional currents, has been mooted as a potential sixth ocean gyre that may coalesce high concentrations of plastic debris. This study aimed to explore data collected from large volume samples of sub-surface water collected from transects through the Barents Sea to quantify and characterise microplastics in this region, with a focus on potential impacts to zooplankton. Overall, the mean microplastic abundance in the Barents Sea was 0.011 microplastics m -3 (range: 0.007 – 0.015 m -3 ). Microplastics were found in higher abundances nearer land mass at the southern end of the transect and northwards towards the ice edge, recording 0.015 microplastics m -3 during both transect legs. Microplastics were predominantly fibrous (92.1%) and typically blue (79%) or red (17%) in colour. A range of polymers were identified including polyester (3.8%), copolymer blends (2.7%), elastomers (7.1%) and acrylics (10.6%), however semi-synthetic polymers dominated, comprising 74.4% of particles found. Higher microplastic concentrations in the northernmost transect may stem from melting sea-ice, while the higher concentrations in the southernmost transect likely derive from the long-range transport of microplastics via currents from Europe. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Emberson-Marl, H. Coppock, R. L. Cole, M. Godley, B. J. Mimpriss, N. Nelms, S. E. Lindeque, P. K. |
spellingShingle |
Emberson-Marl, H. Coppock, R. L. Cole, M. Godley, B. J. Mimpriss, N. Nelms, S. E. Lindeque, P. K. Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
author_facet |
Emberson-Marl, H. Coppock, R. L. Cole, M. Godley, B. J. Mimpriss, N. Nelms, S. E. Lindeque, P. K. |
author_sort |
Emberson-Marl, H. |
title |
Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
title_short |
Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
title_full |
Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microplastics in the Arctic: a transect through the Barents Sea |
title_sort |
microplastics in the arctic: a transect through the barents sea |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829/full |
genre |
Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Sea ice Zooplankton |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1241829 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1810430134330589184 |