Plastic litter in the European Arctic: What do we know?

Despite an exponential increase in available data on marine plastic debris globally, information on levels and trends of plastic pollution and especially microplastics in the Arctic remains scarce. The few available peer-reviewed scientific works, however, point to a ubiquitous distribution of plast...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emerging Contaminants
Main Authors: Claudia Halsband, Dorte Herzke
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2019.11.001
https://doaj.org/article/bc7b195ac24d4932a5e813e431098283
Description
Summary:Despite an exponential increase in available data on marine plastic debris globally, information on levels and trends of plastic pollution and especially microplastics in the Arctic remains scarce. The few available peer-reviewed scientific works, however, point to a ubiquitous distribution of plastic particles in all environmental compartments, including sea ice. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on the sources, distribution, transport pathways and fate of meso- and microplastics with a focus on the European Arctic and discuss observed and projected impacts on biota and ecosystems. Keywords: Arctic, Litter, Plastic, Distribution, Biota, Ecosystem, Review