There is at least 10 times more plastic in the Atlantic than previously thought

Date:
August 18, 2020
Source:
National Oceanography Centre, UK
Summary:
Scientists measured 12-21 million tons of three of the most common
types of plastic in the top 200 meters of the Atlantic. By assuming
the concentration of plastic in the whole Atlantic is the same as
that measured at 200 meters deep, the scientists estimated there
is around 200 million tons of three of the most common types of
plastic alone. Compare this to the previously estimated figure of
17 million.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The mass of 'invisible' microplastics found in the upper waters of the
Atlantic Ocean is approximately 12- 21 million tonnes, according to
research published in the journal Nature Communications today.


========================================================================== Significantly, this figure is only for three of the most common types
of plastic litter in a limited size range. Yet, it is comparable in
magnitude to estimates of all plastic waste that has entered the Atlantic
Ocean over the past 65 years: 17 million tonnes. This suggests that the
supply of plastic to the ocean have been substantially underestimated.

The lead author of the paper, Dr Katsiaryna Pabortsava from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), said "Previously, we couldn't balance the mass
of floating plastic we observed with the mass we thought had entered the
ocean since 1950. This is because earlier studies hadn't been measuring
the concentrations of 'invisible' microplastic particles beneath the
ocean surface.

Our research is the first to have done this across the entire Atlantic,
from the UK to the Falklands." Co-author, Professor Richard Lampitt, also
from the NOC, added "if we assume that the concentration of microplastics
we measured at around 200 metres deep is representative of that in the
water mass to the seafloor below with an average depth of about 3000
metres, then the Atlantic Ocean might hold about 200 million tonnes of
plastic litter in this limited polymer type and size category. This is
much more than is thought to have been supplied. " "In order to determine
the dangers of plastic contamination to the environment and to humans we
need good estimates of the amount and characteristics of this material,
how it enters the ocean, how it degrades and then how toxic it is at
these concentrations. This paper demonstrates that scientists have had a totally inadequate understanding of even the simplest of these factors,
how much is there, and it would seem our estimates of how much is dumped
into the ocean has been massively underestimated." Pabortsava and Lampitt collected their seawater samples during the 26th Atlantic Meridional
Transect expedition in September to November 2016. They filtered large
volumes of seawater at three selected depths in the top 200 metres and
detected and identified plastic contaminants using state-of-the-art spectroscopic imaging technique. Their study focussed on polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene, which are commercially most prominent
and also most littered plastic types.

This study builds on the NOC's cutting-edge research into marine
plastic contamination, which aims to better understand the magnitude
and persistence of exposure to plastics and the potential harms it can
cause. This work was supported by the EU H2020 AtlantOS programme and
the NOC. The AMT programme was supported by the UK Natural Environment
Research Council's National Capability, Climate Linked Atlantic Sector
Science (CLASS) programme.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
National_Oceanography_Centre,_UK. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Katsiaryna Pabortsava, Richard S. Lampitt. High concentrations
of plastic
hidden beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Nature
Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17932-9 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818114940.htm

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