ST. PETERSBURG, March 11. /TASS/. Scientists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) report that the Russian waters of the Barents Sea are highly polluted with microplastics, where concentrations could be compared with the most polluted areas on the Earth, the Institute’s expert Anna Vesman told TASS.
"In 2018, we took samples near Novaya Zemlya, and in summer 2019, we took samples in the eastern part, closer to Spitsbergen. The difference is very big: near Spitsbergen it is 10,000 particles per km2, while at Novaya Zemlya the concentration was 1 million particles per km2," she said. "Imagine, in the sub-tropical zones, where circulations form up islands of microplastics, the concentration is 1.3 million. This means the concentration in the Barents Sea is comparable with concentrations in the planet’s most polluted areas."
Scientists do not have sufficient information to understand the levels of pollution in the Arctic, as studies have just begun, she said. First expeditions, which focused on microplastics, were in 2014-2015. The most polluted seas in the Western Arctic are the Barents and Greenland Seas.
"In those areas the ocean circulates, and the Atlantic’s Gulfstream moves northbound in two streams. One of them turns into the Barents Sea, and the other moves between Spitsbergen and Greenland. The stream takes into the Arctic the waters passing heavily populated European and American coasts. Besides, the Barents Sea suffers badly from fishing and navigation," the scientist added.
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic, from 5 mm to 300 micrometers (1mm is 1,000 micrometers). Microplastics are toxic and resistant to breaking down, they threaten the ecology. Microplastics get accumulated inside living organisms thus causing various diseases.