Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
Recent studies have highlighted the prevalence of microplastic (MP) pollution in the global marine environment and these pollutants have been found to contaminate even remote regions, including the Southern Ocean south of the polar front. Previous studies in this region have mostly focused on MPs la...
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ftpubmed:38565351 2024-05-12T07:54:30+00:00 Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. Leistenschneider, Clara Wu, Fangzhu Primpke, Sebastian Gerdts, Gunnar Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia 2024 Mar 31 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38565351 eng eng Elsevier Science https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38565351 Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Sci Total Environ ISSN:1879-1026 Volume:927 Antarctica FTIR Seawater surface Small microplastics Southern Weddell Sea Journal Article 2024 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 2024-04-12T16:03:00Z Recent studies have highlighted the prevalence of microplastic (MP) pollution in the global marine environment and these pollutants have been found to contaminate even remote regions, including the Southern Ocean south of the polar front. Previous studies in this region have mostly focused on MPs larger than 300 μm, potentially underestimating the extent of MP pollution. This study is the first to investigate MPs in marine surface waters south of the polar front, with a focus on small MPs 500-11 μm in size. Seventeen surface water samples were collected in the southern Weddell Sea using an in-house-designed sampling system. The analysis of the entire sample using micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR) with focal plane array (FPA) detection revealed the presence of MPs in all samples, with the vast majority of the MPs detected being smaller than 300 μm (98.3 %). The mean concentration reached 43.5 (± 83.8) MPs m-3, with a wide range from 0.5 to 267.2 MPs m-3. The samples with the highest concentrations differed from the other samples in that they were collected north of the continental slope and the Antarctic Slope Current. Sea ice conditions possibly also influenced these varying concentrations. This study reports high concentrations of MPs compared to other studies in the region. It emphasizes the need to analyze small MPs, down to a size of 11 μm or even smaller, in the Antarctic Treaty Area to gain a more comprehensive understanding of MP pollution and its potential ecological impacts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Southern Ocean Weddell Sea PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell Science of The Total Environment 927 172124 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctica FTIR Seawater surface Small microplastics Southern Weddell Sea |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica FTIR Seawater surface Small microplastics Southern Weddell Sea Leistenschneider, Clara Wu, Fangzhu Primpke, Sebastian Gerdts, Gunnar Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
topic_facet |
Antarctica FTIR Seawater surface Small microplastics Southern Weddell Sea |
description |
Recent studies have highlighted the prevalence of microplastic (MP) pollution in the global marine environment and these pollutants have been found to contaminate even remote regions, including the Southern Ocean south of the polar front. Previous studies in this region have mostly focused on MPs larger than 300 μm, potentially underestimating the extent of MP pollution. This study is the first to investigate MPs in marine surface waters south of the polar front, with a focus on small MPs 500-11 μm in size. Seventeen surface water samples were collected in the southern Weddell Sea using an in-house-designed sampling system. The analysis of the entire sample using micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR) with focal plane array (FPA) detection revealed the presence of MPs in all samples, with the vast majority of the MPs detected being smaller than 300 μm (98.3 %). The mean concentration reached 43.5 (± 83.8) MPs m-3, with a wide range from 0.5 to 267.2 MPs m-3. The samples with the highest concentrations differed from the other samples in that they were collected north of the continental slope and the Antarctic Slope Current. Sea ice conditions possibly also influenced these varying concentrations. This study reports high concentrations of MPs compared to other studies in the region. It emphasizes the need to analyze small MPs, down to a size of 11 μm or even smaller, in the Antarctic Treaty Area to gain a more comprehensive understanding of MP pollution and its potential ecological impacts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leistenschneider, Clara Wu, Fangzhu Primpke, Sebastian Gerdts, Gunnar Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia |
author_facet |
Leistenschneider, Clara Wu, Fangzhu Primpke, Sebastian Gerdts, Gunnar Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia |
author_sort |
Leistenschneider, Clara |
title |
Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
title_short |
Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
title_full |
Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
title_fullStr |
Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica. |
title_sort |
unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11-500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern weddell sea off antarctica. |
publisher |
Elsevier Science |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38565351 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Sci Total Environ ISSN:1879-1026 Volume:927 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38565351 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
927 |
container_start_page |
172124 |
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1798849785840533504 |