Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11–500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica

Clara Leistenschneider; Fangzhu Wu; Sebastian Primpke; Gunnar Gerdts; Patricia Burkhardt‐Holm

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124

March 31, 2024The Science of The Total EnvironmentOpen Access

Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11–500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica

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Key Points

Microplastic pollution is pervasive across Antarctic surface water, where small synthetic particles dominate contamination south of the polar front.
Nearly 98.3 % of microplastics were smaller than standard sampling nets collect, with mean concentrations reaching 43.5 particles per cubic meter.
Analysis using focal plane array micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy highlights that previous surveys substantially underestimated polar marine microplastics.

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Implication

Observational study reveals ubiquitous small microplastics in Antarctic surface waters, highlighting underestimated Southern Ocean plastic contamination.

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Leistenschneider et al. (2024) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68e71801b6db643587691013 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124

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Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11–500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica

Key Points

No abstract yet

Implication

Discussion

Cite This Study

Unveiling high concentrations of small microplastics (11–500 μm) in surface water samples from the southern Weddell Sea off Antarctica

Key Points

No abstract yet

Implication

Discussion

Cite This Study

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