Leistenschneider Clara, Wu Fangzhu, Primpke Sebastian, Gerdts Gunnar, Burkhardt-Holm Patricia
Man-Society-Environment Program, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, 4051 Basel, Switzerland; Shelf Sea System Ecology, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Kurpromenade 201, 27498 Helgoland, Germany.
Shelf Sea System Ecology, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Kurpromenade 201, 27498 Helgoland, Germany.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jun 1;927:172124. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172124. Epub 2024 Mar 31.
Recent studies have highlighted the prevalence of microplastic (MP) pollution in the global marine environment and these pollutants have been found to contaminate even remote regions, including the Southern Ocean south of the polar front. Previous studies in this region have mostly focused on MPs larger than 300 μm, potentially underestimating the extent of MP pollution. This study is the first to investigate MPs in marine surface waters south of the polar front, with a focus on small MPs 500-11 μm in size. Seventeen surface water samples were collected in the southern Weddell Sea using an in-house-designed sampling system. The analysis of the entire sample using micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR) with focal plane array (FPA) detection revealed the presence of MPs in all samples, with the vast majority of the MPs detected being smaller than 300 μm (98.3 %). The mean concentration reached 43.5 (± 83.8) MPs m, with a wide range from 0.5 to 267.2 MPs m. The samples with the highest concentrations differed from the other samples in that they were collected north of the continental slope and the Antarctic Slope Current. Sea ice conditions possibly also influenced these varying concentrations. This study reports high concentrations of MPs compared to other studies in the region. It emphasizes the need to analyze small MPs, down to a size of 11 μm or even smaller, in the Antarctic Treaty Area to gain a more comprehensive understanding of MP pollution and its potential ecological impacts.
最近的研究突出了全球海洋环境中微塑料（MP）污染的普遍性，并且这些污染物已被发现甚至污染了包括极地锋以南的南大洋在内的偏远地区。此前在该地区的研究大多集中在大于300μm的微塑料上，这可能低估了微塑料污染的程度。本研究首次调查了极地锋以南海洋表层水中的微塑料，重点关注尺寸为500 - 11μm的小型微塑料。使用自行设计的采样系统在威德尔海南部采集了17个表层水样本。使用带有焦平面阵列（FPA）检测的显微傅里叶变换红外光谱（μFTIR）对整个样本进行分析，结果显示所有样本中均存在微塑料，检测到的绝大多数微塑料尺寸小于300μm（98.3%）。平均浓度达到43.5（±83.8）个微塑料/立方米，范围从0.5至267.2个微塑料/立方米。浓度最高的样本与其他样本的不同之处在于，它们是在大陆坡和南极陆坡流以北采集的。海冰状况可能也影响了这些不同的浓度。与该地区的其他研究相比，本研究报告的微塑料浓度较高。它强调有必要在南极条约区域分析尺寸小至11μm甚至更小的微塑料，以便更全面地了解微塑料污染及其潜在的生态影响。
