Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Galway, Ireland.
Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 19;10(1):5004. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61948-6.
Within the past decade, an alarm was raised about microplastics in the remote and seemingly pristine Arctic Ocean. To gain further insight about the issue, microplastic abundance, distribution and composition in sea ice cores (n = 25) and waters underlying ice floes (n = 22) were assessed in the Arctic Central Basin (ACB). Potential microplastics were visually isolated and subsequently analysed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy. Microplastic abundance in surface waters underlying ice floes (0-18 particles m) were orders of magnitude lower than microplastic concentrations in sea ice cores (2-17 particles L). No consistent pattern was apparent in the vertical distribution of microplastics within sea ice cores. Backward drift trajectories estimated that cores possibly originated from the Siberian shelves, western Arctic and central Arctic. Knowledge about microplastics in environmental compartments of the Arctic Ocean is important in assessing the potential threats posed by microplastics to polar organisms.
在过去的十年中，人们对偏远且看似原始的北极海洋中的微塑料发出了警报。为了更深入地了解这个问题，对北极中央盆地（ACB）的海冰芯（n=25）和冰架下的水域（n=22）中的微塑料丰度、分布和组成进行了评估。潜在的微塑料通过肉眼分离，然后使用傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱进行分析。冰架下的表层水中的微塑料丰度（0-18 个颗粒 m）比海冰芯中的微塑料浓度（2-17 个颗粒 L）低几个数量级。在海冰芯中，微塑料的垂直分布没有明显的规律。回溯轨迹估计这些核心可能来自西伯利亚大陆架、北极西部和北极中部。了解北极海洋环境部分的微塑料对于评估微塑料对极地生物构成的潜在威胁非常重要。
