Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport
Although the Arctic covers 6% of our planet’s surface and plays a key role in the Earth’s climate it remains one of the least explored ecosystems. The global change induced decline of sea ice has led to increasing anthropogenic presence in the Arctic Ocean. Exploitation of its resources is already u...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:41047 2024-09-15T17:51:38+00:00 Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport Bergmann, Melanie Peeken, Ilka Beyer, Birte Krumpen, Thomas Lorenz, Claudia Primpke, Sebastian Tekman, Mine Banu Gerdts, Gunnar 2016-05-27 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41047/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48050 unknown Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 , Peeken, I. orcid:0000-0003-1531-1664 , Beyer, B. , Krumpen, T. orcid:0000-0001-6234-8756 , Lorenz, C. orcid:0000-0002-7898-7728 , Primpke, S. orcid:0000-0001-7633-8524 , Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 and Gerdts, G. orcid:0000-0003-0872-3927 (2016) Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport , MICRO 2016, Lanzarote, Spain, 25 May 2016 - 27 May 2016 . hdl:10013/epic.48050 EPIC3MICRO 2016, Lanzarote, Spain, 2016-05-25-2016-05-27 Conference notRev 2016 ftawi 2024-06-24T04:14:20Z Although the Arctic covers 6% of our planet’s surface and plays a key role in the Earth’s climate it remains one of the least explored ecosystems. The global change induced decline of sea ice has led to increasing anthropogenic presence in the Arctic Ocean. Exploitation of its resources is already underway, and Arctic waters are likely important future shipping lanes as indicated by already increasing numbers of fishing vessels, cruise liners and hydrocarbon prospecting in the area over the past decade. Global estimates of plastic entering the oceans currently exceed results based on empirical evidence by up to three orders of magnitude highlighting that we have not yet identified some of the major sinks of plastic in our oceans. Fragmentation into microplastics could explain part of the discrepancy. Indeed, microplastics were identified from numerous marine ecosystems globally, including the Arctic. Here, we analysed horizons of ice cores from the western and eastern Fram Strait by focal plane array based micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to assess if sea ice is a sink of microplastic. Ice cores were taken from land-locked and drifting sea ice to distinguish between local entrainment of microplastics vs long-distance transport. Mean concentrations of 2 x 106 particles m-3 in pack ice and 6 x 105 particles m-3 in land-locked ice were detected (numbers of fibers will soon be added). Eleven different polymer types were identified; polyethylene (PE) was the most abundant one. Preliminary results from four further ice cores from the central Arctic range in a similar order but the microplastics composition was very different. Calculation of drift trajectories by back-tracking of the ice floes sampled indicates multiple source areas, which explains the differences in the microplastic composition. Preliminary analysis of snow samples taken from ice floes in the Fram Strait showed numerous fibers of yet unknown but most likely anthropogenic origin indicating atmospheric fallout as a possible pathway. Our ... Conference Object Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Sea ice Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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Open Polar |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Although the Arctic covers 6% of our planet’s surface and plays a key role in the Earth’s climate it remains one of the least explored ecosystems. The global change induced decline of sea ice has led to increasing anthropogenic presence in the Arctic Ocean. Exploitation of its resources is already underway, and Arctic waters are likely important future shipping lanes as indicated by already increasing numbers of fishing vessels, cruise liners and hydrocarbon prospecting in the area over the past decade. Global estimates of plastic entering the oceans currently exceed results based on empirical evidence by up to three orders of magnitude highlighting that we have not yet identified some of the major sinks of plastic in our oceans. Fragmentation into microplastics could explain part of the discrepancy. Indeed, microplastics were identified from numerous marine ecosystems globally, including the Arctic. Here, we analysed horizons of ice cores from the western and eastern Fram Strait by focal plane array based micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to assess if sea ice is a sink of microplastic. Ice cores were taken from land-locked and drifting sea ice to distinguish between local entrainment of microplastics vs long-distance transport. Mean concentrations of 2 x 106 particles m-3 in pack ice and 6 x 105 particles m-3 in land-locked ice were detected (numbers of fibers will soon be added). Eleven different polymer types were identified; polyethylene (PE) was the most abundant one. Preliminary results from four further ice cores from the central Arctic range in a similar order but the microplastics composition was very different. Calculation of drift trajectories by back-tracking of the ice floes sampled indicates multiple source areas, which explains the differences in the microplastic composition. Preliminary analysis of snow samples taken from ice floes in the Fram Strait showed numerous fibers of yet unknown but most likely anthropogenic origin indicating atmospheric fallout as a possible pathway. Our ... |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Bergmann, Melanie Peeken, Ilka Beyer, Birte Krumpen, Thomas Lorenz, Claudia Primpke, Sebastian Tekman, Mine Banu Gerdts, Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Bergmann, Melanie Peeken, Ilka Beyer, Birte Krumpen, Thomas Lorenz, Claudia Primpke, Sebastian Tekman, Mine Banu Gerdts, Gunnar Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
author_facet |
Bergmann, Melanie Peeken, Ilka Beyer, Birte Krumpen, Thomas Lorenz, Claudia Primpke, Sebastian Tekman, Mine Banu Gerdts, Gunnar |
author_sort |
Bergmann, Melanie |
title |
Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
title_short |
Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
title_full |
Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
title_fullStr |
Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
title_sort |
microplastics in arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41047/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48050 |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Fram Strait Sea ice |
op_source |
EPIC3MICRO 2016, Lanzarote, Spain, 2016-05-25-2016-05-27 |
op_relation |
Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 , Peeken, I. orcid:0000-0003-1531-1664 , Beyer, B. , Krumpen, T. orcid:0000-0001-6234-8756 , Lorenz, C. orcid:0000-0002-7898-7728 , Primpke, S. orcid:0000-0001-7633-8524 , Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 and Gerdts, G. orcid:0000-0003-0872-3927 (2016) Microplastics in Arctic sea ice: a prime temporary sink for (micro-)plastics and a medium of transport , MICRO 2016, Lanzarote, Spain, 25 May 2016 - 27 May 2016 . hdl:10013/epic.48050 |
_version_ |
1810293573798592512 |