Plastics in Antarctica – preliminary findings from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE.

Abstract

The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE. sampled micro, meso and macroplastic litter around Antarctica from December 2016 to March 2017. Only 22 floating macrolitter items were observed south of the Subtropical Front in almost 15,000 km of transect counts, confirming that the Southern Ocean is the ocean least polluted by plastics globally. However, macro debris was found in two of the small number of seabed trawls, probably arising from fisheries operating in the region. Surface tows with a 200 micron neuston net captured no obvious mesoplastic items, but microfibres were found in most bulk water samples collected at sea and some beach sediments from sub-Antarctic and Antarctic sites. Surprisingly, there was no marked gradient in these fibres as we approached continental source areas. However, initial tests with micro-FTIR spectroscopy indicates that few fibres were synthetic, highlighting the need to confirm that microfibres in particular are made from persistent, synthetic polymers. - Abstract as displayed in the - Abstract booklet. The presentation on the day may differ from the - Abstract.