Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord
Microfibers (MF) are one of the major classes of microplastic found in the marine environment on a global scale. Very little is known about how they move and distribute from point sources such as wastewater effluents into the ocean. We chose Adventfjorden near the settlement of Longyearbyen on the A...
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Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21404 https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/21404 2023-05-15T13:05:55+02:00 Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord Herzke, Dorte Ghaffari, Peygham Sundet, Jan Henry Tranang, Caroline Aas Halsband, Claudia 2021-06-07 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21404 https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 eng eng Frontiers Media Frontiers in Environmental Science info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/UTENRIKS/ 288079/Norway/Mapping marine litter in the Norwegian and Russian Arctic Seas// info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/INTPART/275172/Norway/Plastic pollution; a global Challenge Towards harmonised understanding, education and methodology in Europe, USA and China/PlastPoll/ Herzke, Ghaffari, Sundet, Tranang, Halsband. Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 2021;9 FRIDAID 1915591 doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 2296-665X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21404 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 2021-06-25T17:58:14Z Microfibers (MF) are one of the major classes of microplastic found in the marine environment on a global scale. Very little is known about how they move and distribute from point sources such as wastewater effluents into the ocean. We chose Adventfjorden near the settlement of Longyearbyen on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago as a case study to investigate how microfibers emitted with untreated wastewater will distribute in the fjord, both on a spatial and temporal scale. Fiber abundance in the effluent was estimated from wastewater samples taken during two one-week periods in June and September 2017. Large emissions of MFs were detected, similar in scale to a modern WWTP serving 1.3 million people and providing evidence of the importance of untreated wastewater from small settlements as major local sources for MF emissions in the Arctic. Fiber movement and distribution in the fjord mapped using an online-coupled hydrodynamic-drift model (FVCOM-FABM). For parameterizing a wider spectrum of fibers from synthetic to wool, four different density classes of MFs, i.e., buoyant, neutral, sinking, and fast sinking fibers are introduced to the modeling framework. The results clearly show that fiber class has a large impact on the fiber distributions. Light fibers remained in the surface layers and left the fjord quickly with outgoing currents, while heavy fibers mostly sank to the bottom and deposited in the inner parts of the fjord and along the northern shore. A number of accumulation sites were identified within the fjord. The southern shore, in contrast, was much less affected, with low fiber concentrations throughout the modeling period. Fiber distributions were then compared with published pelagic and benthic fauna distributions in different seasons at selected stations around the fjord. The ratios of fibers to organisms showed a very wide range, indicating hot spots of encounter risk for pelagic and benthic biota. This approach, in combination with in-situ ground-truthing, can be instrumental in understanding microplastic pathways and fate in fjord systems and coastal areas and help authorities develop monitoring and mitigation strategies for microfiber and microplastic pollution in their local waters. Article in Journal/Newspaper Adventfjorden Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Svalbard University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Longyearbyen Svalbard Archipelago Adventfjorden ENVELOPE(15.515,15.515,78.258,78.258) Frontiers in Environmental Science 9 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Herzke, Dorte Ghaffari, Peygham Sundet, Jan Henry Tranang, Caroline Aas Halsband, Claudia Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
description |
Microfibers (MF) are one of the major classes of microplastic found in the marine environment on a global scale. Very little is known about how they move and distribute from point sources such as wastewater effluents into the ocean. We chose Adventfjorden near the settlement of Longyearbyen on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago as a case study to investigate how microfibers emitted with untreated wastewater will distribute in the fjord, both on a spatial and temporal scale. Fiber abundance in the effluent was estimated from wastewater samples taken during two one-week periods in June and September 2017. Large emissions of MFs were detected, similar in scale to a modern WWTP serving 1.3 million people and providing evidence of the importance of untreated wastewater from small settlements as major local sources for MF emissions in the Arctic. Fiber movement and distribution in the fjord mapped using an online-coupled hydrodynamic-drift model (FVCOM-FABM). For parameterizing a wider spectrum of fibers from synthetic to wool, four different density classes of MFs, i.e., buoyant, neutral, sinking, and fast sinking fibers are introduced to the modeling framework. The results clearly show that fiber class has a large impact on the fiber distributions. Light fibers remained in the surface layers and left the fjord quickly with outgoing currents, while heavy fibers mostly sank to the bottom and deposited in the inner parts of the fjord and along the northern shore. A number of accumulation sites were identified within the fjord. The southern shore, in contrast, was much less affected, with low fiber concentrations throughout the modeling period. Fiber distributions were then compared with published pelagic and benthic fauna distributions in different seasons at selected stations around the fjord. The ratios of fibers to organisms showed a very wide range, indicating hot spots of encounter risk for pelagic and benthic biota. This approach, in combination with in-situ ground-truthing, can be instrumental in understanding microplastic pathways and fate in fjord systems and coastal areas and help authorities develop monitoring and mitigation strategies for microfiber and microplastic pollution in their local waters. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Herzke, Dorte Ghaffari, Peygham Sundet, Jan Henry Tranang, Caroline Aas Halsband, Claudia |
author_facet |
Herzke, Dorte Ghaffari, Peygham Sundet, Jan Henry Tranang, Caroline Aas Halsband, Claudia |
author_sort |
Herzke, Dorte |
title |
Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
title_short |
Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
title_full |
Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
title_fullStr |
Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord |
title_sort |
microplastic fiber emissions from wastewater effluents: abundance, transport behavior and exposure risk for biota in an arctic fjord |
publisher |
Frontiers Media |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21404 https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(15.515,15.515,78.258,78.258) |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Longyearbyen Svalbard Archipelago Adventfjorden |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Longyearbyen Svalbard Archipelago Adventfjorden |
genre |
Adventfjorden Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Adventfjorden Arctic Arctic Longyearbyen Svalbard |
op_relation |
Frontiers in Environmental Science info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/UTENRIKS/ 288079/Norway/Mapping marine litter in the Norwegian and Russian Arctic Seas// info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/INTPART/275172/Norway/Plastic pollution; a global Challenge Towards harmonised understanding, education and methodology in Europe, USA and China/PlastPoll/ Herzke, Ghaffari, Sundet, Tranang, Halsband. Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 2021;9 FRIDAID 1915591 doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 2296-665X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21404 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.662168 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Environmental Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766397323887247360 |