Hotspots of Floating Plastic Particles across the North Pacific Ocean.

ABSTRACT: The pollution of the marine environment with plastic debris is expected to increase, where ocean currents and winds cause their accumulation in convergence zones like the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG). Surface-floating plastic (>330 μm) was collected in the North Pacific Ocean between Vancouver (Canada) and Singapore using a neuston catamaran and identified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Baseline concentrations of 41,600-102,700 items km^-2 were found, dominated by polyethylene and polypropylene. Higher concentrations (factors 4-10) of plastic items occurred not only in the NPSG (452,800 items km^-2) but also in a second area, the Papaha̅naumokua̅kea Marine National Monument (PMNM, 285,200 items km^-2). This second maximum was neit

SUBMITTER: Rynek R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10919090 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature