We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Sea surface microplastics in Slovenian part of the Northern Adriatic
Summary
Researchers conducted 17 manta trawl surveys over 20 months in the Slovenian portion of the Northern Adriatic Sea, finding a high average microplastic concentration of 406,000 particles per km2 with polyethylene dominating, and linking concentration variability to surface current patterns modeled with a Markov chain approach.
Plastics are the most common material of marine litter and have become a global pollution concern. They are persistent in the environment where they gradually degrade into increasingly smaller particles-microplastics (MP). Our study presents results of sea-surface monitoring for MP in the Slovenian part of the Trieste Bay in the Northern Adriatic Sea. In 17 trawls conducted over a 20-month period we found a high average concentration of 406×10MPparticles/km. Over 80% of the particles were identified as polyethylene. The significant variability of MP concentrations obtained on different sampling dates is explained by use of surface current maps and a recently developed Markov chain marine litter distribution model for the Adriatic Sea.