Distribution and abundance of surface water microlitter in the Baltic Sea: A comparison of two sampling methods

Setälä, Outi; Magnusson, Kerstin; Lehtiniemi, Maiju; Norén, Fredrik

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.065

Cited by 158 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Both surface trawling and pumping method have been applied in marine and freshwater environments (Fischer et al, ; Hidalgo‐Ruz, Gutow, Thompson, & Thiel, ). The average MP concentration in samples collected with the manta trawl from Lake Kallavesi (0.27 ± 0.18 MPs/m 3 ) corresponds with the earlier study from the Baltic Sea, where in average 0.2 ± 0.2 MPs/m 3 were detected (Setälä, Magnusson, Lehtiniemi, & Norén, ). Our pump filtration results showed that MP concentration increases with decreasing particle size, also shown by Railo, Talvitie, Setälä, Koistinen, and Lehtiniemi () for the Baltic Sea.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

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Microplastic concentrations, size distribution, and polymer types in the surface waters of a northern European lake

Uurasjärvi

Hartikainen

Setälä

et al. 2019

Water Environment Research

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142

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We examined microplastic concentrations, size distributions, and polymer types in surface waters of a northern European dimictic lake. Two sampling methods, a pump sieving water onto filters with different pore sizes (20, 100, and 300 µm) and a common manta trawl (333 µm), were utilized to sample surface water from 12 sites at the vicinity of potential sources for microplastic emissions. The number and polymer types of microplastics in the samples were determined with optical microscopy and μFTIR spectroscopy. The average concentrations were 0.27 ± 0.18 (mean ± SD) microplastics/m 3 in manta trawled samples and 1.8 ± 2.3 (>300 μm), 12 ± 17 (100-300 μm) and 155 ± 73 (20-100 μm) microplastics/m 3 in pump filtered samples. The majority (64%) of the identified microplastics (n = 168) were fibers, and the rest were fragments. Materials were identified as polymers commonly used in consumer products, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate. Microplastic concentrations were high near the discharge pipe of a wastewater treatment plant, harbors, and snow dumping site. • Practitioner points• Samples were taken with a manta trawl (333 μm) and a pump filtration system (300/100/20 μm) • With pump filtration, small 20-300 μm particles were more common than >300 μm particles • The average concentration of manta trawled samples was 0.27 ± 0.18 (mean ± SD) microplastics/m 3 • FTIR analysis revealed PE, PP, PET, and PAN to be the most common polymers •

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…The manta trawl and a similarly functioning pump filtration system than utilized here have previously been compared and discussed in detail for marine sampling (Setälä et al, ). In freshwater sampling, both sampling methods had pros and cons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastic concentrations, size distribution, and polymer types in the surface waters of a northern European lake

Uurasjärvi

Hartikainen

Setälä

et al. 2019

Water Environment Research

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142

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“…Indeed, this typology of light debris was relatively abundant in Red Sea surface waters. The concentration of possible plastic fibers was comparable to that reported for other ocean regions (Setälä et al, 2016), with fibers representing, numerically, 92%, on average of the total number of possible plastic items ( Figure 2C). The typology of the floating plastic fragments (hard pieces, films, lines, and foam) showed a proportion of 17% of films in abundance, which is in the upper range of the proportion of film reported in assessment of floating plastic litter in the Mediterranean Sea (range from 1 to 6%, Cózar et al, 2015;Suaria et al, 2016;Van der Hal et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Low Abundance of Plastic Fragments in the Surface Waters of the Red Sea

et al. 2017

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The floating plastic debris along the Arabian coast of the Red Sea was sampled by using surface-trawling plankton nets. A total of 120 sampling sites were spread out over the near-shore waters along 1,500 km of coastline during seven cruises performed during 2016 and 2017. Plastic debris, dominated by millimeter-sized pieces, was constituted mostly of fragments of rigid objects (73%) followed by pieces of films (17%), fishing lines (6%), and foam (4%). These fragments were mainly made up by polyethylene (69%) and polypropylene (21%). Fibers, likely released from synthetic textiles, were ubiquitous and abundant, although were analyzed independently due to the risk of including non-plastic fibers and airborne contamination of samples in spite of the precautions taken. The plastic concentrations (excluding possible plastic fibers) contrasts with those found in other semi-closed seas, such as the neighboring Mediterranean. They were relatively low all over the Red Sea (<50,000 items km −2 ; mean ± SD = 3,546 ± 8,154 plastic item km −2 , 1.1 ± 3.0 g km −2 ) showing no clear spatial relationship with the distribution of coastal population. Results suggests a low plastic waste input from land as the most plausible explanation for this relative shortage of plastic in the surface waters of the Red Sea; however, the additional intervention of particular processes of surface plastic removal by fish or the filtering activity of the extensive coral reefs along the coastline cannot be discarded. In addition, our study highlights the relevance of determining specific regional conversion rates of mismanaged plastic waste to marine debris, accounting for the role of near-shore activities (e.g., beach tourism, recreational navigation), in order to estimate plastic waste inputs into the ocean.

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“…Costs are denoted as relative estimates ranging from "+" (lowest costs) to "+++" highest costs as actual costs may vary depending on supplier and chosen design specifics. References of method application [10,11], present study [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] [12] * = high density polymers (i.e., denser than water); ** = low density polymers (i.e., lighter than water).…”

Section: Experimental Work and Validation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These include, foremost, Manta trawls [1] that skim a film of surface water of constant depth for floating matter and retain the mesh-size-defined particulate filtrate in a cod-end [2][3][4]. Bongo nets, WP-2 nets, as well as special constructions for layered profiling have been applied alike [5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small Microplastic Sampling in Water: Development of an Encapsulated Filtration Device

Lenz

Labrenz

2018

Water

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A variety of microplastic sampling instrumentation is currently used for water pollution studies. Plankton net-based approaches have been the most adopted techniques for water column and surface sampling. When applied to microplastics (MP) in the lower µm size range these methods, however, introduce non-negligible risks of sample contamination and loss due to instrument and procedure design. Based on the first principles of systems engineering design we have developed a mobile sampling platform for field application that fulfils the needs of producing usable MP samples with a lower size limit of 10 µm using an encapsulated flow-through filtration concept. Here, we explain the requirements, development, and construction of the device for others to replicate and improve.

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Distribution and abundance of surface water microlitter in the Baltic Sea: A comparison of two sampling methods

Cited by 158 publications

References 18 publications

Microplastic concentrations, size distribution, and polymer types in the surface waters of a northern European lake

Microplastic concentrations, size distribution, and polymer types in the surface waters of a northern European lake

Low Abundance of Plastic Fragments in the Surface Waters of the Red Sea

Small Microplastic Sampling in Water: Development of an Encapsulated Filtration Device

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