Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea
This study investigated microplastic distribution characteristics by collecting surface seawater from sea areas to the south of Jeju Island in August 2020. The average microplastic abundance was 0.46 ± 0.27 particles/L (n = 23), and PE had a high ratio, averaging 53%. The levels of fragments and fib...
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2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132393 https://doaj.org/article/049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 2023-07-30T04:01:58+02:00 Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea Byeong Kyu Min Hui Ho Jeong Mi Jo Ju Uni Ko Keum Hyang Dae Hyun Jung Kim Chon Rae Cho Ho Young Soh Yasuhiro Ishibashi Hyeon Seo Cho 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132393 https://doaj.org/article/049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/13/2393 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441 doi:10.3390/w15132393 2073-4441 https://doaj.org/article/049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 Water, Vol 15, Iss 2393, p 2393 (2023) microplastics Korean Southwest Sea seawater microplastic distribution high-density plastic low-density plastics Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132393 2023-07-16T00:34:31Z This study investigated microplastic distribution characteristics by collecting surface seawater from sea areas to the south of Jeju Island in August 2020. The average microplastic abundance was 0.46 ± 0.27 particles/L (n = 23), and PE had a high ratio, averaging 53%. The levels of fragments and fibers were observed to be 69% and 31% on average, respectively. The most common size of the microplastics was on average 0.02–0.30 mm at a level of 69%. We found a higher abundance of microplastics in the study area than in other open waters such as the Arctic Central Basin and the Atlantic Ocean, whereas the abundance was lower than that in previous studies on coastal areas. We studied an area of open sea connecting China, Japan, and the Pacific Ocean, and, in this region, the microplastic distribution varies depending on sea currents in the surrounding areas. In the summer, the western and central regions of the study sea area have low salinity levels due to discharge from China’s Yangtze River. This generally indicates that high-density plastic deposits are found in the Yangtze River estuary, and low-density plastics are found in the study area. Furthermore, this implies that low- and high-density plastics are transported in water for long periods of time due to the Taiwan Warm Current and because the eastern sea area has high salinity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Central Basin ENVELOPE(43.000,43.000,73.500,73.500) Pacific Water 15 13 2393 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
microplastics Korean Southwest Sea seawater microplastic distribution high-density plastic low-density plastics Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 |
spellingShingle |
microplastics Korean Southwest Sea seawater microplastic distribution high-density plastic low-density plastics Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 Byeong Kyu Min Hui Ho Jeong Mi Jo Ju Uni Ko Keum Hyang Dae Hyun Jung Kim Chon Rae Cho Ho Young Soh Yasuhiro Ishibashi Hyeon Seo Cho Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
topic_facet |
microplastics Korean Southwest Sea seawater microplastic distribution high-density plastic low-density plastics Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 |
description |
This study investigated microplastic distribution characteristics by collecting surface seawater from sea areas to the south of Jeju Island in August 2020. The average microplastic abundance was 0.46 ± 0.27 particles/L (n = 23), and PE had a high ratio, averaging 53%. The levels of fragments and fibers were observed to be 69% and 31% on average, respectively. The most common size of the microplastics was on average 0.02–0.30 mm at a level of 69%. We found a higher abundance of microplastics in the study area than in other open waters such as the Arctic Central Basin and the Atlantic Ocean, whereas the abundance was lower than that in previous studies on coastal areas. We studied an area of open sea connecting China, Japan, and the Pacific Ocean, and, in this region, the microplastic distribution varies depending on sea currents in the surrounding areas. In the summer, the western and central regions of the study sea area have low salinity levels due to discharge from China’s Yangtze River. This generally indicates that high-density plastic deposits are found in the Yangtze River estuary, and low-density plastics are found in the study area. Furthermore, this implies that low- and high-density plastics are transported in water for long periods of time due to the Taiwan Warm Current and because the eastern sea area has high salinity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Byeong Kyu Min Hui Ho Jeong Mi Jo Ju Uni Ko Keum Hyang Dae Hyun Jung Kim Chon Rae Cho Ho Young Soh Yasuhiro Ishibashi Hyeon Seo Cho |
author_facet |
Byeong Kyu Min Hui Ho Jeong Mi Jo Ju Uni Ko Keum Hyang Dae Hyun Jung Kim Chon Rae Cho Ho Young Soh Yasuhiro Ishibashi Hyeon Seo Cho |
author_sort |
Byeong Kyu Min |
title |
Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
title_short |
Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
title_full |
Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
title_fullStr |
Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Baseline Study on Microplastic Distribution in the Open Surface Waters of the Korean Southwest Sea |
title_sort |
baseline study on microplastic distribution in the open surface waters of the korean southwest sea |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132393 https://doaj.org/article/049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(43.000,43.000,73.500,73.500) |
geographic |
Arctic Central Basin Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Central Basin Pacific |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Water, Vol 15, Iss 2393, p 2393 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/13/2393 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441 doi:10.3390/w15132393 2073-4441 https://doaj.org/article/049f86f171784017ac4ca0dea123ae97 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132393 |
container_title |
Water |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
2393 |
_version_ |
1772812703402819584 |