Floating microplastics from rivers may accumulate near Arctic and damage ecosystems

By Gwyn Wright via SWNS

Floating microplastics from European rivers may be accumulating as far away as the Arctic and damage ecosystems, warns a new study.

The harmful waste may be also be clustering together in the Nordic Seas and Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland, researchers believe.

The microplastics can be ingested by invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals and harm the creatures in a variety of ways.

Previous studies have found high levels of the damaging microplastics in the Arctic Ocean but their origin was until now unclear.

For the new study, Norwegian researchers used models of ocean currents between 2007 and 2017 with simulations of microplastic movements.

They simulated the release of microplastics from 21 rivers in Northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a ten year period and modelled how they had moved over decades.

They then compared the results with the distribution of floating microplastics across 121 seawater samples which were collected from 17 sites off the west coast of Norway between May 2017 and August 2018.

When they were released from rivers, most plastic particles drifted along two main pathways.

Just under two thirds (65 percent) of them drifted along the Norwegian coast towards the Laptev Sea, which is north of Russia, before being transported into the Arctic Ocean, across the North Pole, and then exiting the Arctic Ocean via the Fram Strait to the east of Greenland.

Just under a third (30 percent) of the simulated particles drifted along the Norwegian coast before moving southwards via the Fram Strait, then along the east and south coasts of Greenland before traveling further south along the northeast coast of Canada.

After simulating 20 years’ worth of plastic movements the researchers were able to clearly identify areas where floating microplastics accumulated.

These places were in the Nordic Seas, the Nansen Basin in the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea and Laptev Sea – located between the Arctic Ocean and north Russia – and Baffin Bay, which is located between Greenland and Canada.

Analyses of seawater samples revealed the distribution of floating microplastics was consistent with that predicted by the authors’ model after ten years.

This indicates that floating microplastics may have been circulating throughout the Arctic for at least ten years.

The study’s corresponding author Dr. Mats Huserbråten said the findings show now is the time to regulate the density and durability of plastics.

Policymakers and the public should also ensure waste is managed in a less harmful way.

Dr. Huserbråten said: “This circulation of extremely durable, floating plastic through the regional Arctic ecosystems may have far reaching consequences, for example by ingestion by invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals inducing a wide array of detrimental physiological responses.

“Our findings may also heighten the general awareness of the vast dispersal potential of microplastics once released into highly advective ocean ecosystems.

“The present research serves as a timely reminder for policymakers to regulate key attributes of plastic products such as their density and durability.

“It also highlights the importance of focusing on better waste management, which in turn reduces the potential for dispersal of terrestrial microplastic in marine ecosystems.”

The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.