Back to Search
Start Over
Offshore surface waters of Antarctica are free of microplastics, as revealed by a circum-Antarctic study.
- Source :
-
Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2019 Dec; Vol. 149, pp. 110573. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Sep 26. - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- In 2018, during a circumnavigation of Antarctica below 62° S by the sailing boat Katharsis II, the presence of plastics was investigated with surface sampling nets at ten evenly spaced locations (every 36° of longitude). Although fibres that appeared to be plastic (particles up to 2 cm) were found in numbers ranging from 1 particle (0.002 particles per m <superscript>3</superscript> ) to 171 particles (1.366 particles per m <superscript>3</superscript> ) per station, a Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis indicated that these particles were not composed of plastic. The fibres which superficially reminded plastic were composed of silica and are of biological origin most likely generated by phytoplankton (diatoms). Therefore, the offshore Antarctic locations were proven to be free of floating microplastics.<br /> (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1879-3363
- Volume :
- 149
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Marine pollution bulletin
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 31542602
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110573