High concentrations of plastic hidden beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Concern over plastic pollution of the marine environment is severe. The mass-imbalance between the plastic litter supplied to and observed in the ocean currently suggests a missing sink. However, here we show that the ocean interior conceals high loads of small-sized plastic debris which can balance and even exceed the estimated plastic inputs into the ocean since 1950. The combined mass of just the three most-littered plastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) of 32-651 µm size-class suspended in the top 200 m of the Atlantic Ocean is 11.6-21.1 Million Tonnes. Considering that plastics of other sizes and polymer types will be found in the deeper ocean and in the sediments, our results indicate that both inputs and stocks of ocean plastics are much higher than determined previously. It is thus critical to assess these terms across all size categories and polymer groups to determine the fate and danger of plastic contamination.

Effect of microplastics in water and aquatic systems

“…Almost 700 aquatic species in the world were adversely affected by the introduction of microplastics, including sea turtles, penguins, and other crustaceans (Marn et al 2020 ). However, the predicament due to microplastic depreciates as most sufferers go unexplored over the vast oceans (Pabortsava and Lampitt 2020 ). Ingression of plastics into the ecosystem is mainly due to the erroneous human actions or unrestrained wastes from water or sewage treatment plants and textile industries (Ayalew et al 2012 ; Nitesh Singh and Balasubramanian 2014 ; Gonte et al 2014 ; Sharma and Balasubramanian 2015 ; Rastogi and Kandasubramanian 2020b ; Rastogi et al 2020 ).…”

The Way of Macroplastic through the Environment

“…Furthermore, the question of "missing plastic" comes into focus [3,10], as measured concentrations of (micro-) plastic in some environmental areas do not appear to increase [11][12][13]. This can be explained by an overestimation of the input of macroplastic (MaP) into the ocean as well as an underestimation of plastics that accumulates at the ocean surface, the water column of the oceans, or the removal of plastic from the ocean surface by degradation, fragmentation, and increase in density [14,15]. For this reason, the question of possible sinks within the life cycle is particularly important for further understanding.…”

The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview

“…77,78 However, PMD sinking uxes are largely understudied and the deposition mechanisms by which the microplastics reach the sediments is not yet fully understood. [79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] It is also unclear if sunken (but previously oating) PMD remains at the seaoor or if sedimented plastics could become aoat again once the coating biolm is (partially) degraded. 4 Indeed, the ndings of an abundance of suspended PMD in the mid water column 79,86 begs the question if plastics may not only oat or sink but might also oscillate in the water column.…”

“…[79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] It is also unclear if sunken (but previously oating) PMD remains at the seaoor or if sedimented plastics could become aoat again once the coating biolm is (partially) degraded. 4 Indeed, the ndings of an abundance of suspended PMD in the mid water column 79,86 begs the question if plastics may not only oat or sink but might also oscillate in the water column. 74 However, suspended PMD abundances can be highly variable and the vertical resolution for sampling suspended PMD is usually limited, which complicates interpolation between data points.…”