{"id":4123,"date":"2017-06-16T07:37:23","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T05:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/2017\/06\/jakter-mikroplast-utenfor-svalbardkysten\/"},"modified":"2022-11-08T09:49:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T08:49:21","slug":"hunting-microplastics-off-the-svalbard-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/2017\/06\/hunting-microplastics-off-the-svalbard-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting microplastics off the Svalbard coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Syltet\u00f8yglass
Sediment samples from the seabed and shoreline were collected in jam jars and later analyzed. Photo: Dorte Herzke, NILU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plastic particles of 5 mm or less are called microplastics. Some of the microplastics in the ocean come from larger plastic objects and plastic waste that has been broken down by sun, sea and mechanical processes, but some also come from clothes.<\/p>\n

Where is the plastic?<\/h2>\n

\u2013 Clothes made of synthetic textiles emit large quantities of microplastics when we wash them, says senior scientist Dorte Herzke of NILU\u2019s Environmental Chemistry department in Troms\u00f8, \u2013 and these microscopic plastic fibres end up in the sea when the washing machine drains.<\/p>\n

Once the microplastics have reached open waters, scientists find it again everywhere \u2013 in birds, in sediments and in the ocean as far north as Svalbard. It was at Svalbard that Herzke, together with Jan H. Sundet and Maria Jenssen from the Institute of Marine Research, conducted a study on microplastics in the seawater along the Svalbard coast. The study received financial support from Svalbard\u2019s environmental protection fund in 2015 and 2016, with the main purpose to investigate whether there are differences in the amount of plastic particles in the Adventfjord water (where Longyearbyen is located) compared to the inhabited Isfjorden and uninhabited Breibogen.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The reason we want to find out if there are microplastics in the ocean is because of the negative impact it may have on fish and other organisms that ingest it, explains Herzke. \u2013 The animals fill up their stomachs and intestines with plastic that gets stuck, but in addition we know that environmental pollutants can bind to the ingested microplastics. That way, toxic chemicals enter the food chain, but we still know too little about exactly what negative effects this may have.<\/p>\n

Floating on the surface<\/h2>\n

The results from Herzke, Sundet and Jenssen\u2019s study shows that the level of both fibres and microplastic fragments was almost insignificant in all soil sediment samples, and in most of the samples from the shore. In the samples taken above the high water mark, however, significant deposits of microplastics, both fibres and fragments, were recorded. In the pilot study from 2015, the scientists found most of the microplastics and fibres in wastewater from the Longyearbyen water purification plant, which is not equipped to remove all of these particles.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What we found corresponds to previous studies, which suggest that microplastics originating from drainage in Longyearbyen is essentially lighter than seawater. Thus, it floats near the sea surface, explains Herzke. \u2013 Over time, the plastic particles will sink down, due to chemical changes in the plastic and because organisms bind to them and make them heavier. But this process is slow, and in cold Arctic waters it is even slower.<\/p>\n

Clean a beach!<\/h2>\n

The result of the survey is largely positive in the sense that scientists have not been able to detect more microplastics in the seawater in Adventfjorden and Kongsfjorden, where people live permanently, than in uninhabited Breibogen. However, Dorte Herzke emphasizes that a larger survey with several collected samples is needed to establish with certainty that there are no such differences.<\/p>\n

She can also tell that they found most of the microplastics on the shore, above the high tide level. The reason for this is most likely that plastic waste is washed up by high waves and spring tide, or carried by the wind. When on the beach, the plastic is broken down into smaller particles, which precipitation then brings down into the sediments. From there it gradually washes out into the sea in the form of microplastics, and is thus exposed to the marine ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u2013 We hope this study can contribute to more knowledge about how plastic waste ends up as microplastics in the sea, concludes Herzke. \u2013 We also want to emphasize the importance of cleaning beaches, not only in Svalbard, but everywhere. Not only because it looks prettier, but to prevent more trash ending up as a microplastics.<\/p>\n

Read NILU annual report 2016:<\/h2>\n

Read annual report 2016 in pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic particles of 5 mm or less are called microplastics. Some of the microplastics in the ocean come from larger plastic objects and plastic waste that has been broken down by sun, sea and mechanical processes, but some also come from clothes. Where is the plastic? \u2013 Clothes made of synthetic textiles emit large quantities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4123","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\/4123","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4123"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49143,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123\/revisions\/49143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}