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Two groups of researchers have found microplastics in Arctic ice and snow. A U.S.-led team discovered microplastics in ice core samples taken on an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage this summer. Meanwhile, German and Swiss scientists found plastic pieces in snow samples taken from the Arctic, the Swiss Alps and Germany.
Scientists found record levels of microplastics in Arctic sea ice, a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications revealed. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) sampled ice from five Arctic Ocean regions and found up to 12,000 microplastic particles per liter of ice.
In the summer months, sea ice from the Arctic drifts through Fram Strait into the Atlantic. Thanks to meltwater, a stable layer forms around the drifting ice atop the salty seawater, producing significant effects on biological processes and marine organisms.
A team of international experts revealed that ocean warming of the Arctic started way earlier than previously thought. The study suggests that since the beginning of the 20th Century, the Arctic Ocean had already been getting warmer due to the recent expansion of warming Atlantic water, called "Atlantification".
Arctic. Atlantic. Long ago, the two oceans existed in harmony, with warm and salty Atlantic waters gently flowing into the Arctic. The layered nature of the Arctic — sea ice on top, cool freshwater in the middle, and warm, salty water at the bottom — helped hold the boundary between the polar ocean and the warmer Atlantic.