Offshore surface waters of Antarctica are free of microplastics, as revealed by a circum-Antarctic study.

Autor: Kuklinski P; Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Powstancow Warszawy 55, Sopot 81-712, Poland; Natural History Museum, Department of Life Sciences, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom; Katharsis II, World Ocean. Electronic address: kuki@iopan.pl., Wicikowski L; Technical University of Gdansk, Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland., Koper M; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Grala T; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Leniec-Koper H; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Barasiński M; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Talar M; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Kamiński I; Katharsis II, World Ocean; Polish Naval Academy, ul. inż. Śmidowicza 69, 81-127 Gdynia, Poland., Kibart R; Katharsis II, World Ocean., Małecki W; Katharsis II, World Ocean.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2019 Dec; Vol. 149, pp. 110573. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Sep 26.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110573
Abstrakt: 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 3 ) to 171 particles (1.366 particles per m 3 ) 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.
(Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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