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Surface microplastics in the Kara Sea: from the Kara Gate to the 83°N
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A survey across the Kara Sea in the Russian Arctic found an average microplastic concentration of 0.124 items per cubic meter of surface water, with the highest levels at the Kara Gate strait — the main entry point from the Atlantic — suggesting external ocean inputs rather than the Ob and Yenisey rivers are the dominant source. The semi-enclosed geography of the Kara Sea means it may act as a trap for incoming microplastics, making it a pollution accumulation zone despite its remote location.
Despite ongoing research into microplastics pollution in the Arctic Ocean, the region remains underexplored. In the Eurasian Arctic studies mainly focus on the Barents Sea, while there are only limited and variable data from few stations in the Kara Sea. The study aims to perform an extensive survey of microplastics floating on the sea surface in the Kara Sea. The sampling throughout the Kara Sea was carried out using a neuston net in the August 2021 starting from the Kara Gate strait, reaching 83N latitude and ending in the north-eastern part of the Barents Sea along the border with the Kara Sea. Average abundance of microplastics was 0.124 ± 0.383 items/m 3 in the Kara Sea. The Kara Gate exhibited the highest abundance of microplastics (0.93 ± 0.73 items/m 3 ), suggesting that it is an important source of the microplastics pollution of the Kara Sea. The results suggest that the Ob and Yenisey rivers do not substantially contribute to the microplastic pollution of the Kara Sea due to significantly lower concentrations in the river plume water (0.008 ± 0.009 items/m 3 ) compared to the other regions of the Kara Sea. Further, the river plume differs in chemical composition of microplastics dominated by expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles (52%) in contrast to other regions where the predominant polymer is polyethylene (PE) (64-77%). The study highlights the potential of the Kara Sea to accumulate the microplastics due to its semi-enclosed nature and complex interaction between inflow of waters originating from the North Atlantic and Ob-Yenisey river plume.
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The Kara Gate is the main route for microplastics to enter the Kara Sea
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers studied microplastic pollution in the Kara Sea by sampling with neuston nets from the Kara Gate to 83°N latitude in August 2021, measuring particle abundance, size, and morphology across different sea regions. They found an average abundance of 0.124 items/m3 with maximum concentrations at the Kara Gate, identifying it as the primary entry route for microplastics from the Barents Sea into the Kara Sea.
The Kara Gate is the main route for microplastics to enter the Kara Sea
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers sampled floating microplastics throughout the Kara Sea using a neuston net in August 2021, reaching 83 degrees north latitude, and identified the Kara Gate as the primary entry route for microplastics into this poorly studied Arctic sea.
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This study measured the spatial and seasonal distribution of floating microplastics at the surface of the Kara Sea in the Russian Arctic using two research cruises in 2020 and 2021. Microplastics were detected across the sampling area, with spatial patterns related to ocean currents. The findings contribute to documentation of microplastic contamination in the Arctic, a rapidly changing and ecologically sensitive region.
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Researchers conducted the most extensive survey of floating microplastics in the Eurasian Arctic to date, collecting 220 surface water and 180 subsurface water samples across the Barents, Kara, Laptev, and East-Siberian seas during six cruises from 2019 to 2022. They found a strong west-to-east gradient in microplastic pollution, declining from 19.0 micrograms per cubic meter in the Barents Sea to 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter in the East-Siberian Sea, with the Kara Gate Strait showing the highest concentration at 640 micrograms per cubic meter, suggesting the Barents Sea as the primary source of microplastics in the Siberian Arctic.
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This preliminary study from a 2023 Russian Arctic expedition measured microplastic concentrations during ice formation in the Kara Sea, one of the Arctic Ocean's most productive but least-studied regions. The data contributes to understanding how sea ice formation concentrates and redistributes microplastics in the Arctic, where they accumulate far from their original sources.
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