The Arctic Ocean as a dead-end for floating plastics in the North Atlantic branch of the thermohaline circulation
A. Cozar, E. Martí, C.M. Duarte, J. García-de-Lomas, EE.rik van Sebille, T. J. Ballatore, V.M. Eguíluz, J.I. González-Gordillo, M. L. Pedrotti, F. Echevarría, R. Troublè, and X. Irigoien
Science Advances 3, no. 4, e1600582, (2017)
Keywords
Arctic waters, North Atlantic, Floating plastic debris, Thermohaline circulation
Abstract
Page Content
The subtropical ocean gyres are recognized as great marine accummulation
zones of floating plastic debris; however, the possibility of plastic
accumulation at polar latitudes has been overlooked because of the lack
of nearby pollution sources. In the present study, the Arctic Ocean was
extensively sampled for floating plastic debris from the Tara Oceans
circumpolar expedition. Although plastic debris was scarce or absent in
most of the Arctic waters, it reached high concentrations (hundreds of
thousands of pieces per square kilometer) in the northernmost and
easternmost areas of the Greenland and Barents seas. The fragmentation
and typology of the plastic suggested an abundant presence of aged
debris that originated from distant sources. This hypothesis was
corroborated by the relatively high ratios of marine surface plastic to
local pollution sources. Surface circulation models and field data
showed that the poleward branch of the Thermohaline Circulation
transfers floating debris from the North Atlantic to the Greenland and
Barents seas, which would be a dead end for this plastic conveyor belt.
Given the limited surface transport of the plastic that accumulated here
and the mechanisms acting for the downward transport, the seafloor
beneath this Arctic sector is hypothesized as an important sink of
plastic debris.
Code
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600582
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