Thursday, May 19, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Latest News

Environment: European floating microplastics may accumulate in Arctic Ocean

March 17, 2022
in Latest News
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Floating microplastics from European rivers may accumulate in parts of the Arctic Ocean, the Nordic Seas and Baffin Bay, a study in Scientific Reports suggests.

Previous research has reported the presence of high concentrations of microplastic particles throughout the Arctic Ocean, however the source of these microplastics and where they accumulate has been unclear.

Mats Huserbråten and colleagues combined models of ocean currents between 2007 and 2017 with simulations of floating microplastic movements. They simulated the release of microplastics from 21 major rivers across northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a ten year period and modelled their movements over decades. The researchers then compared the results of their model with the distribution of floating microplastics across 121 seawater samples that were collected from 17 sites off the west coast of Norway between May 2017 and August 2018.

The authors found that, upon being released from rivers, most simulated particles drifted along two main pathways. 65% drifted along the Norwegian coast towards the Laptev Sea – located north of Russia – before being transported into the Arctic Ocean, across the North Pole, and then exiting the Arctic Ocean via the Fram Strait – located east of Greenland. 30% of the simulated particles drifted along the Norwegian coast before moving southwards via the Fram Strait and then along the east and south coasts of Greenland before travelling further south along the northeast coast of Canada. After 20 years of simulations the researchers were able to identify clear areas where  floating microplastics accumulated. These were in the Nordic Seas, the Nansen Basin in the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea and Laptev Sea – located between the Arctic Ocean and north Russia – and Baffin Bay, which is located between Greenland and Canada. Analyses of seawater samples revealed that the distribution of floating microplastics was consistent with that predicted by the authors’ model after ten years of simulated microplastic release and subsequent circulation through the Nordic Seas, the Arctic Ocean and the Fram Strait. This indicates that floating microplastics may have been circulating throughout the Arctic for at least ten years.

The authors suggest that the circulation of floating microplastics could have consequences for the health of Arctic ecosystems. The findings highlight the importance of better plastic waste management, they add.

###

Article details

Trans-polar drift-pathways of riverine European microplastic

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07080-z

Corresponding Authors:

Mats Huserbråten
Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway
Email: [email protected]

Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-07080-z



Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-07080-z

Article Title

Trans-polar drift-pathways of riverine European microplastic

Article Publication Date

17-Mar-2022

Tags: accumulateArcticenvironmentEuropeanfloatingmicroplasticsocean
Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Gladstone scientists Tongcui Ma, Irene Chen, and Rahul Suryawanshi.

    “Natural immunity” from omicron is weak and limited, study finds

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Researchers discover genetic cause of megaesophagus in dogs

    1022 shares
    Share 409 Tweet 256
  • Scripps Research awarded $67 million by NIH to lead new Pandemic Preparedness Center

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Do early therapies help very young children with or at high likelihood for autism?

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Ecological functions of streams and rivers severely affected globally

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Understanding how sunscreens damage coral

SUTD develops design-based activity to enhance students’ understanding in electrochemistry

New Curtin research resurrects ‘lost’ coral species

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 187 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....