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Frazil Ice Formation Causes Divergent Levels of Microplastic and Nanoplastic Accumulation in Sea Ice
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Researchers used laboratory experiments to directly test for the first time whether frazil ice — the tiny ice crystals that form at the ocean surface in polar regions — concentrates microplastics and nanoplastics as it forms. They found that microplastics were enriched nearly three times in the ice relative to the underlying seawater, consistent with field observations of high microplastic levels in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Nanoplastics, however, behaved more like salt ions and were actually excluded from the bulk ice, potentially concentrating instead in the briny pockets where polar microorganisms live. This distinction between how micro- and nanoplastics behave in polar ice has important implications for understanding their ecological impact in polar food webs.
Plastic pollution is found in polar sea ice with concentrations of microplastics (MPs, 1 μm–5 mm) 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than in the underlying seawater. Such accumulation is often attributed to the scavenging of MPs by rising frazil ice crystals, but there is no direct evidence of such a process. Furthermore, nanoplastics (NPs, 1 nm–1 μm) are suspected to be present, but their fate is unknown due to the lack of field measurements. Here micro- and nanoplastics’ (MNPs) enrichment by frazil ice was quantified using model particles and an experimental setup which generated realistic frazil ice. Particle size had a significant impact on behavior: on one hand, high-density MPs concentrations were 2.97 ± 1.13 times higher in the ice than in the underlying water, which is consistent with field observations. On the other hand, NPs were depleted to the same extent as sea salts, by a factor of 0.32 ± 0.13. Like salts, NPs may be locally enriched in the brine channels and pockets of sea ice where microalgae thrive. Overall, this work shows that frazil ice plays an important role in the cycling of MNPs, as it can concentrate MPs in sea ice and concentrate NPs locally in brine channels and pockets.
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Frazil Ice FormationCauses Divergent Levels of Microplasticand Nanoplastic Accumulation in Sea Ice
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers experimentally quantified micro- and nanoplastic enrichment by frazil ice formation, finding that high-density microplastic concentrations were approximately 2.97 times higher in sea ice than in underlying seawater, while nanoplastics showed divergent accumulation behavior based on particle size.
Frazil Ice FormationCauses Divergent Levels of Microplasticand Nanoplastic Accumulation in Sea Ice
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers experimentally quantified micro- and nanoplastic enrichment by frazil ice formation, finding that high-density microplastic concentrations were approximately 2.97 times higher in sea ice than in underlying seawater, while nanoplastics showed divergent accumulation behavior based on particle size.
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Researchers ran controlled laboratory experiments on ice formation from fresh and saltwater to understand how bubble flotation drives microplastic incorporation and concentration in sea ice, finding that bubbles entrain plastic particles during freezing and explain the unexpectedly high and compositionally distinct microplastic loads found in sea ice.
Fate of Nanoplastics in polar waters: Experimental evidence for expulsion from sea ice to saltwater
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Researchers conducted laboratory experiments showing that nanoplastics suspended in seawater are expelled from forming sea ice back into the underlying saltwater during freezing, rather than becoming trapped in the ice. This suggests that freeze-thaw cycles in polar regions could concentrate nanoplastics in surface seawater during spring melt.
Micro- and nanoplastic transfer in freezing saltwater: implications for their fate in polar waters
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Researchers investigated the fate of micro- and nanoplastics during sea-ice formation using a novel experimental system that simulated progressive saltwater freezing, measuring how plastics partition between ice and liquid phases and assessing implications for plastic accumulation and transport in Arctic environments.
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