Marine Litter quantities on six Beaches of northern Svalbard in 2016 determined by citizen scientists ...

Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative data from surveys carried out by citizen scientists on six beaches of northern Svalbard. Litter quantities recorded by cruise to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bergmann, Melanie, Gutow, Lars
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2017
Subjects:
Event label
Latitude of event
Longitude of event
DATE/TIME
Method comment
Sediment type
Area
Marine litter, plastic
Marine litter, fabric
Marine litter, metal
Marine litter, glass
Marine litter, biotic
Marine litter, total
Sampling by hand
FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring FRAM
Svalbard
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.880814
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.880814
Description
Summary:Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative data from surveys carried out by citizen scientists on six beaches of northern Svalbard. Litter quantities recorded by cruise tourists varied from 9-524 g m-2 and were similar to those from densely populated areas. Plastics accounted for >80% of the overall litter, most of which originated from fisheries. Our study highlights the potential of citizen scientists to provide scientifically valuable data on the pollution of sensitive remote ecosystems. The results stress once more that current legislative frameworks are insufficient to tackle the pollution of Arctic ecosystems. ... : Supplement to: Bergmann, Melanie; Lutz, Birgit; Tekman, Mine Banu; Gutow, Lars (2017): Citizen scientists reveal: Marine litter pollutes Arctic beaches and affects wild life. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 125(1-2), 535-540 ...

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