Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have discovered microplastic in high concentrations at the ocean floor According to their findings, the two main ocean currents in Fram Strait transport the microscopically small plastic particles into the region between Greenland and Spitsbergen from both the Arctic and the North Atlantic. Particles eventually drift to the seafloor, where they accumulate. The experts published their findings in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The Fram Strait is the only deep passage between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. It reaches a depth of 5,600 meters and contains two opposing currents that flow right by one another.
"We found the highest concentration of microplastic particles in water at our northernmost sampling spot near the sea-ice edge," reports AWI biologist and lead author Mine Tekman. She continues, "From previous studies we knew that the Arctic sea ice can contain as much as 12,000 microplastic particles per litre of meltwater. When this ice reaches the end of its journey and melts in the northern Fram Strait, it most likely releases its microplastic load into the sea, which would explain the high concentration in the surface waters”.
The level of pollution was 16,000 times greater in sediments at the bottom of Fram Strait. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) was used to analyze sediment samples revealing up to 13,000 microplastic particles per kilogramme of sediment. "This large quantity of particles and the various types of plastic we found in the sediment confirm that microplastic is continually accumulating on the seafloor of Fram Strait. In other words, the deep sea in this region is a sink for microscopically small plastic particles," says AWI deep-sea expert and co-author Dr Melanie Bergmann.
Scientists Identify Significant Microplastic Accumulation in Seafloor Using FTIR