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Frazil Ice FormationCauses Divergent Levels of Microplasticand Nanoplastic Accumulation in Sea Ice
Summary
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.
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
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