The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes
This is the final version. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record. Understanding the transport and accumulation of microplastics is useful to determine the relative risk they pose to global biodiversity. The exact contribution of microplastic sources is hard to elucidate; therefor...
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ftunivexeter:oai:ore.exeter.ac.uk:10871/132260 2023-05-15T13:57:42+02:00 The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes Cunningham, EM Seijo, NR Altieri, KE Audh, RR Burger, JM Bornman, TG Fawcett, S Gwinnett, CMB Osborne, AO Woodall, LC 2022 1056081- http://hdl.handle.net/10871/132260 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 en eng Frontiers Media Data availability statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9 orcid:0000-0001-7295-7184 (Woodall, Lucy C) Vol. 9, article 1056081 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 117035 129232 111716 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/132260 2296-7745 Frontiers in Marine Science © 2022 Cunningham, Rico Seijo, Altieri, Audh, Burger, Bornman, Fawcett, Gwinnett, Osborne and Woodall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY AMBT Antarctica atmospheric fibres forensics oceanic PLM pollution Article 2022 ftunivexeter https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 2023-01-20T00:03:35Z This is the final version. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record. Understanding the transport and accumulation of microplastics is useful to determine the relative risk they pose to global biodiversity. The exact contribution of microplastic sources is hard to elucidate; therefore, investigating the Antarctic Weddell Sea, an area known for its remoteness and little human presence (i.e. limited pollution sources), will help us to better understand microplastic transportation. Here, we investigate the presence of microplastics in a range of Antarctic sample media including air, seawater, and sediment. We hypothesised that multiple transportation processes including atmospheric and oceanic vectors determine the presence of microplastics in the Antarctic. Using techniques including Polarised Light Microscopy and Raman Spectrometry, we identified mostly fibres and categorised them based on their optical and chemical properties. A total of 47 individual microplastic categories (45 of which were fibres) were identified in the air, seawater, and sediment samples. The majority of categories did not overlap multiple media (42/47); however, four fibre categories were present in both air and water samples, and another fibre category was found in all three media (category 27). We suggest that the large variety of fibres identified and the overlap of fibre categories among media indicates that the pollution may result from multiple diffuse sources and transportation pathways. Additionally, our Air Mass Back Trajectory analyses demonstrates that microplastic fibres are being transported by air masses or wind, and strongly suggests that they are transported to the Antarctic from southern South America. We also propose that fibres may be transported into the Antarctic in subsurface waters, and as pollution was identified in our sediment and additional sea ice samples, we suggest that the coastal and Antarctic deep sea may be a sink for microplastic fibres. The results shown here from a remote, near-pristine ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Weddell Sea University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) |
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ftunivexeter |
language |
English |
topic |
AMBT Antarctica atmospheric fibres forensics oceanic PLM pollution |
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AMBT Antarctica atmospheric fibres forensics oceanic PLM pollution Cunningham, EM Seijo, NR Altieri, KE Audh, RR Burger, JM Bornman, TG Fawcett, S Gwinnett, CMB Osborne, AO Woodall, LC The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
topic_facet |
AMBT Antarctica atmospheric fibres forensics oceanic PLM pollution |
description |
This is the final version. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record. Understanding the transport and accumulation of microplastics is useful to determine the relative risk they pose to global biodiversity. The exact contribution of microplastic sources is hard to elucidate; therefore, investigating the Antarctic Weddell Sea, an area known for its remoteness and little human presence (i.e. limited pollution sources), will help us to better understand microplastic transportation. Here, we investigate the presence of microplastics in a range of Antarctic sample media including air, seawater, and sediment. We hypothesised that multiple transportation processes including atmospheric and oceanic vectors determine the presence of microplastics in the Antarctic. Using techniques including Polarised Light Microscopy and Raman Spectrometry, we identified mostly fibres and categorised them based on their optical and chemical properties. A total of 47 individual microplastic categories (45 of which were fibres) were identified in the air, seawater, and sediment samples. The majority of categories did not overlap multiple media (42/47); however, four fibre categories were present in both air and water samples, and another fibre category was found in all three media (category 27). We suggest that the large variety of fibres identified and the overlap of fibre categories among media indicates that the pollution may result from multiple diffuse sources and transportation pathways. Additionally, our Air Mass Back Trajectory analyses demonstrates that microplastic fibres are being transported by air masses or wind, and strongly suggests that they are transported to the Antarctic from southern South America. We also propose that fibres may be transported into the Antarctic in subsurface waters, and as pollution was identified in our sediment and additional sea ice samples, we suggest that the coastal and Antarctic deep sea may be a sink for microplastic fibres. The results shown here from a remote, near-pristine ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cunningham, EM Seijo, NR Altieri, KE Audh, RR Burger, JM Bornman, TG Fawcett, S Gwinnett, CMB Osborne, AO Woodall, LC |
author_facet |
Cunningham, EM Seijo, NR Altieri, KE Audh, RR Burger, JM Bornman, TG Fawcett, S Gwinnett, CMB Osborne, AO Woodall, LC |
author_sort |
Cunningham, EM |
title |
The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
title_short |
The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
title_full |
The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
title_fullStr |
The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
title_full_unstemmed |
The transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the Antarctic: The role of multiple global processes |
title_sort |
transport and fate of microplastic fibres in the antarctic: the role of multiple global processes |
publisher |
Frontiers Media |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/132260 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
Data availability statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9 orcid:0000-0001-7295-7184 (Woodall, Lucy C) Vol. 9, article 1056081 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 117035 129232 111716 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/132260 2296-7745 Frontiers in Marine Science |
op_rights |
© 2022 Cunningham, Rico Seijo, Altieri, Audh, Burger, Bornman, Fawcett, Gwinnett, Osborne and Woodall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1056081 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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