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The comparative study by Raman spectroscopy of the plastic tide in the three ports of the Mediterranean Sea
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Researchers used Raman spectroscopy to characterise marine microplastic pollution in field studies conducted at four locations within three Mediterranean Sea ports along the French coast during the autumn season. The study identified the polymer composition, size distribution, and colour characteristics of beached and waterborne plastic particles, providing baseline data on the 'plastic tide' in these Mediterranean harbours.
This paper summarizes the field studies on marine microplastics (MPs) carried out in the autumn season in four various localisations within three ports chosen at the Mediterranean Sea near the French Riviera and the West Coast of Italy (within the Ligurian Sea). It considers the transport problem and the fate of the MPs introduced to the sea by analysing beach debris found on the shore after the stormy weather. Monitored ports included Saint-Tropez, Portoferraio and Porto Ercole, in which two different places were monitored. The aim is to approach the plastic tide phenomena by concentrating on a selected fraction of all MPs presented on the seashore. The final identification of debris was performed using Raman spectroscopy, providing a high-resolution signal. The PE, PP and PS contents were compared as the most frequent and representative polymers. Finally, we tackle the pending issue of the compound leakage from the MPs taking the environmentally aged particles from Portoferraio for further laboratory experiments and discuss an innovative approach with a low detection limit based on the electrochemical methods.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.