The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation
The subtropical ocean gyres are recognized as great marine accummulation zones of floating plastic debris; however, the possibility of plastic accumulation at polar latitudes has been overlooked because of the lack of nearby pollution sources. In the present study, the Arctic Ocean was extensively s...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/349353 2023-12-03T10:16:07+01:00 The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation Cózar, Andrés Martí, Elisa Duarte, Carlos M García-de-Lomas, Juan van Sebille, Erik Ballatore, Thomas J Eguíluz, Victor M González-Gordillo, J Ignacio Pedrotti, Maria L Echevarría, Fidel Troublè, Romain Irigoien, Xabier Sub Physical Oceanography Marine and Atmospheric Research 2017-04 image/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349353 en eng 2375-2548 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349353 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Arctic waters North Atlantic floating plastic debris thermohaline circulation Article 2017 ftunivutrecht 2023-11-08T23:13:21Z The subtropical ocean gyres are recognized as great marine accummulation zones of floating plastic debris; however, the possibility of plastic accumulation at polar latitudes has been overlooked because of the lack of nearby pollution sources. In the present study, the Arctic Ocean was extensively sampled for floating plastic debris from the Tara Oceans circumpolar expedition. Although plastic debris was scarce or absent in most of the Arctic waters, it reached high concentrations (hundreds of thousands of pieces per square kilometer) in the northernmost and easternmost areas of the Greenland and Barents seas. The fragmentation and typology of the plastic suggested an abundant presence of aged debris that originated from distant sources. This hypothesis was corroborated by the relatively high ratios of marine surface plastic to local pollution sources. Surface circulation models and field data showed that the poleward branch of the Thermohaline Circulation transfers floating debris from the North Atlantic to the Greenland and Barents seas, which would be a dead end for this plastic conveyor belt. Given the limited surface transport of the plastic that accumulated here and the mechanisms acting for the downward transport, the seafloor beneath this Arctic sector is hypothesized as an important sink of plastic debris. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Atlantic Utrecht University Repository Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Utrecht University Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivutrecht |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic waters North Atlantic floating plastic debris thermohaline circulation |
spellingShingle |
Arctic waters North Atlantic floating plastic debris thermohaline circulation Cózar, Andrés Martí, Elisa Duarte, Carlos M García-de-Lomas, Juan van Sebille, Erik Ballatore, Thomas J Eguíluz, Victor M González-Gordillo, J Ignacio Pedrotti, Maria L Echevarría, Fidel Troublè, Romain Irigoien, Xabier The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
topic_facet |
Arctic waters North Atlantic floating plastic debris thermohaline circulation |
description |
The subtropical ocean gyres are recognized as great marine accummulation zones of floating plastic debris; however, the possibility of plastic accumulation at polar latitudes has been overlooked because of the lack of nearby pollution sources. In the present study, the Arctic Ocean was extensively sampled for floating plastic debris from the Tara Oceans circumpolar expedition. Although plastic debris was scarce or absent in most of the Arctic waters, it reached high concentrations (hundreds of thousands of pieces per square kilometer) in the northernmost and easternmost areas of the Greenland and Barents seas. The fragmentation and typology of the plastic suggested an abundant presence of aged debris that originated from distant sources. This hypothesis was corroborated by the relatively high ratios of marine surface plastic to local pollution sources. Surface circulation models and field data showed that the poleward branch of the Thermohaline Circulation transfers floating debris from the North Atlantic to the Greenland and Barents seas, which would be a dead end for this plastic conveyor belt. Given the limited surface transport of the plastic that accumulated here and the mechanisms acting for the downward transport, the seafloor beneath this Arctic sector is hypothesized as an important sink of plastic debris. |
author2 |
Sub Physical Oceanography Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cózar, Andrés Martí, Elisa Duarte, Carlos M García-de-Lomas, Juan van Sebille, Erik Ballatore, Thomas J Eguíluz, Victor M González-Gordillo, J Ignacio Pedrotti, Maria L Echevarría, Fidel Troublè, Romain Irigoien, Xabier |
author_facet |
Cózar, Andrés Martí, Elisa Duarte, Carlos M García-de-Lomas, Juan van Sebille, Erik Ballatore, Thomas J Eguíluz, Victor M González-Gordillo, J Ignacio Pedrotti, Maria L Echevarría, Fidel Troublè, Romain Irigoien, Xabier |
author_sort |
Cózar, Andrés |
title |
The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
title_short |
The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
title_full |
The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
title_fullStr |
The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Arctic Ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the Thermohaline Circulation |
title_sort |
arctic ocean as a dead end for floating plastics in the north atlantic branch of the thermohaline circulation |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349353 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland North Atlantic |
op_relation |
2375-2548 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/349353 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1784263012088020992 |