Credit: University of Hamburg / LDF/J.Peters
Microplastics are small (less than 5 mm) pieces of plastic litter. They mainly originate from the breakdown of plastic debris in rivers and seas, but are also flushed out from other sources such as personal hygiene products that contain microbeads. Once in the ocean, the fate of microplastics is largely unknown. To address that question, Zandra Gerdes and Sophia Reichelt, Ph D students at Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), Stockholm University went on an international scientific cruise onboard the German research vessel Sonne (RV Sonne) at the beginning of this summer with 30 other scientists and 31 crew members on a journey that took them from Vancouver, Canada, to Singapore.
The aim of this unique project is to understand how microplastics behave in the water and in marine food webs. How do they get transported to the bottom, what microorganisms contribute to their degradation and what animals facilitate their transfer through the food webs? Zandra and Sophia will take water samples at several stations along the route, most of which are located within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They will then look for so-called marine snow aggregates, which may potentially play a major role in the downward transport of microplastics.
Read full article by Stella Papadopoulou on ACES web.
