Awareness of ocean pollution began with images of more or less colored plastics floating on the surface of the water. Then scientists realized that these “macrodebris” were only a small part of the problem. The oceans are also affected by a much less spectacular attack: microplastics. This microscopic-sized debris is present everywhere, at concentrations that are not yet well known.
Read also: Offshore racing goes hunting for microplastics
During an oceanographic campaign between the United Kingdom and the Falkland Islands, two researchers from the Southampton Oceanographic Center did a tremendous job of estimating the amount of microplastics that could be present in the Atlantic. In Nature Communications , they estimate that, up to 200 meters below the surface, its waters contain 12 to 21 million tonnes of these polluting particles.
A "possible underestimation of the problem"
“It's much more than one would expect ,” explains Katsiaryna Pabortsava, co-author of the study. The
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