{"id":3853,"date":"2018-02-25T09:11:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T08:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/2018\/02\/tusenvis-av-plastbiter-er-pa-vei-mot-arktis\/"},"modified":"2021-05-20T15:05:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T13:05:49","slug":"thousands-of-plastic-pieces-are-headed-towards-the-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/2018\/02\/thousands-of-plastic-pieces-are-headed-towards-the-arctic\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of plastic pieces are headed towards the Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists are now finding plastic debris in all Arctic marine habitats \u2013 along the coasts, at the surface, in the water column, in sea ice and on the sea floor. Scientific models are predicting a sixth major garbage patch forming in the Barents Sea between Novaya Semlya, Franz Josef\u2019s land and Svalbard.<\/p>\n

Plastics, large and small<\/h2>\n
\"Seniorforskerne
Senior researchers Dorte Herzke of NILU (left) and Claudia Halsband from Akvaplan-niva have conducted research on marine plastics for almost a decade. Photo: Paul Renaud \/ Akvaplan-niva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senior scientist Dorte Herzke from NILU \u2013 Norwegian Institute for Air Research and Claudia Halsband, senior scientist at Akvaplan-niva, have conducted research on marine plastics for almost a decade. In the latest AMAP Assessment report, \u201cChemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern\u201d, Herzke and Halsband give a summary of what is currently known about marine plastics in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Plastics are released into the environment from a range of different activities, says Halsband. \u2013 Industrial activities such as commercial fishing, use of plastic abrasives, and spillage of plastic pellets are probably the main source for plastic ending up in the ocean. But domestic applications such as washing microfiber clothes, mismanaged waste and municipal wastewater also contribute.<\/p>\n

Where does marine plastic come from?<\/h2>\n

Marine plastics and microplastics find their way into the Arctic in different ways. Oceanographic models has shown that transport via ocean currents from more densely populated areas further south is highly likely. Water from the Atlantic entering the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait contains plastic debris, as well as other pollutants such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals.<\/p>\n

\u2013 In addition to this long-range transport, local sources also play a role, Herzke explains. \u2013 With more people living in and visiting the Arctic, more plastic products are being used. Add that to a changing climate which is causing damage to human constructions and releasing decade-old entrapped plastic debris from melting sea ice. The result is a potential for a future increase in marine plastic pollution in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

Visible litter, invisible chemicals<\/h2>\n
\"Bildet
The image shows a copepod with fluorescent microplastics in its stomach. Photo: Renske Vroom \/ Akvaplan-niva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At NILU and Akvaplan-niva, the scientists are looking into both what happens to microplastics in the environment, and also how microplastics affect the organisms that eat it.<\/p>\n

\u2013 We know that marine plastics affect marine organisms in the whole ecosystem, says Herzke. \u2013 Scientists have found plastic in the stomachs of fish and other water dwelling organisms since the 1970s. As of today, this is commonplace. In our studies, we find plastic and microplastics in both aquatic organisms and various types of sea birds all the time.<\/p>\n

\u2013 It\u2019s easy for people to see and understand marine litter in the form of visible plastic pieces on a beach or a dead bird entangled in plastic wire, says Halsband. \u2013 Harder to see are the poisonous effects of plastic related chemicals, and how these tiny pieces affect small organisms such as plankton. We know very little about how the environmental conditions in the Arctic may affect the degradation of plastic to microplastic, and how vulnerable Arctic species are to this type of contamination. Thus, we need studies specific to Arctic conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists are now finding plastic debris in all Arctic marine habitats \u2013 along the coasts, at the surface, in the water column, in sea ice and on the sea floor. Scientific models are predicting a sixth major garbage patch forming in the Barents Sea between Novaya Semlya, Franz Josef\u2019s land and Svalbard. Plastics, large and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsarchive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3853"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4038,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853\/revisions\/4038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}