Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory
The increased global production of plastics has been mirrored by greater accumulations of plastic litter in marine environments worldwide. Global plastic litter estimates based on field observations account only for 1% of the total volumes of plastic assumed to enter the marine ecosystem from land,...
Published in: | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:42934 2023-05-15T14:27:38+02:00 Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory Tekman, Mine Banu Krumpen, Thomas Bergmann, Melanie 2016-12-21 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/1/Tekman_et_al.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543.d001 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/1/Tekman_et_al.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543.d001 Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 , Krumpen, T. orcid:0000-0001-6234-8756 and Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 (2016) Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory , Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers . doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011> , hdl:10013/epic.49543 EPIC3Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, ISSN: 0967-0637 Article isiRev 2016 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011 2021-12-24T15:42:19Z The increased global production of plastics has been mirrored by greater accumulations of plastic litter in marine environments worldwide. Global plastic litter estimates based on field observations account only for 1% of the total volumes of plastic assumed to enter the marine ecosystem from land, raising again the question ‘Where is all the plastic? ’. Scant information exists on temporal trends on litter transport and litter accumulation on the deep seafloor. Here, we present the results of photographic time-series surveys indicating a strong increase in marine litter over the period of 2002–2014 at two stations of the HAUSGARTEN observatory in the Arctic (2500 m depth). Plastic accounted for the highest proportion (47%) of litter recorded at HAUSGARTEN for the whole study period. When the most southern station was considered separately, the proportion of plastic items was even higher (65%). Increasing quantities of small plastics raise concerns about fragmentation and future microplastic contamination. Analysis of litter types and sizes indicate temporal and spatial differences in the transport pathways to the deep sea for different categories of litter. Litter densities were positively correlated with the counts of ship entering harbour at Longyearbyen, the number of active fishing vessels and extent of summer sea ice. Sea ice may act as a transport vehicle for entrained litter, being released during periods of melting. The receding sea ice coverage associated with global change has opened hitherto largely inaccessible environments to humans and the impacts of tourism, industrial activities including shipping and fisheries, all of which are potential sources of marine litter. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Sea ice Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic Longyearbyen Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 120 88 99 |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
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description |
The increased global production of plastics has been mirrored by greater accumulations of plastic litter in marine environments worldwide. Global plastic litter estimates based on field observations account only for 1% of the total volumes of plastic assumed to enter the marine ecosystem from land, raising again the question ‘Where is all the plastic? ’. Scant information exists on temporal trends on litter transport and litter accumulation on the deep seafloor. Here, we present the results of photographic time-series surveys indicating a strong increase in marine litter over the period of 2002–2014 at two stations of the HAUSGARTEN observatory in the Arctic (2500 m depth). Plastic accounted for the highest proportion (47%) of litter recorded at HAUSGARTEN for the whole study period. When the most southern station was considered separately, the proportion of plastic items was even higher (65%). Increasing quantities of small plastics raise concerns about fragmentation and future microplastic contamination. Analysis of litter types and sizes indicate temporal and spatial differences in the transport pathways to the deep sea for different categories of litter. Litter densities were positively correlated with the counts of ship entering harbour at Longyearbyen, the number of active fishing vessels and extent of summer sea ice. Sea ice may act as a transport vehicle for entrained litter, being released during periods of melting. The receding sea ice coverage associated with global change has opened hitherto largely inaccessible environments to humans and the impacts of tourism, industrial activities including shipping and fisheries, all of which are potential sources of marine litter. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tekman, Mine Banu Krumpen, Thomas Bergmann, Melanie |
spellingShingle |
Tekman, Mine Banu Krumpen, Thomas Bergmann, Melanie Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
author_facet |
Tekman, Mine Banu Krumpen, Thomas Bergmann, Melanie |
author_sort |
Tekman, Mine Banu |
title |
Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
title_short |
Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
title_full |
Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
title_fullStr |
Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
title_full_unstemmed |
Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory |
title_sort |
marine litter on deep arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the north at the hausgarten observatory |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/1/Tekman_et_al.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543.d001 |
geographic |
Arctic Longyearbyen |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Longyearbyen |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Sea ice |
op_source |
EPIC3Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, ISSN: 0967-0637 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/42934/1/Tekman_et_al.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49543.d001 Tekman, M. B. orcid:0000-0002-6915-0176 , Krumpen, T. orcid:0000-0001-6234-8756 and Bergmann, M. orcid:0000-0001-5212-9808 (2016) Marine litter on deep Arctic seafloor continues to increase and spreads to the North at the HAUSGARTEN observatory , Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers . doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011> , hdl:10013/epic.49543 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.12.011 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
120 |
container_start_page |
88 |
op_container_end_page |
99 |
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1766301458845663232 |