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Estimation of the age of polyethylene microplastics collected from oceans: Application to the western North Pacific Ocean
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Scientists developed a method to estimate how long polyethylene microplastics have been floating in the ocean by measuring their chemical degradation level and matching it to UV exposure data. They applied this technique to samples from the western North Pacific and estimated ages ranging from months to years. Knowing the age of ocean microplastics helps researchers trace where plastic pollution originates and how far ocean currents carry it.
The knowledge of microplastic (MP) age could aid the deduction of the origin and fate of a fragment carried by ocean currents over long time periods and distances. The present study developed a novel method to estimate the age of MPs (i.e., UV radiation exposure time) using the oxidation level of polyethylene (i.e., carbonyl index) from infrared spectrometry, ultraviolet erythemal radiation (UVER) data, and ambient seawater temperatures. Accelerated and outdoor exposure experiments were conducted to establish relationships among the temporally integrated UVER, ambient temperature, and carbonyl index. Thereafter, the age of MPs was computed, with Miyakojima Island serving as the reference location. The estimated ages of MPs collected from the western North Pacific Ocean ranged from 1 to 3 years, and those MPs from nearshore waters ranged from 0 to 5 years.
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