Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1038/s41586-025-09218-1
Lizenz creative commons licence
Titel (primär) Nanoplastic concentrations across the North Atlantic
Autor ten Hietbrink, S.; Materić, D.; Holzinger, R.; Groeskamp, S.; Niemann, H.
Quelle Nature
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
Department EAC
Band/Volume 643
Heft 8071
Seite von 412
Seite bis 416
Sprache englisch
Topic T9 Healthy Planet
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Abstract Plastic pollution of the marine realm is widespread, with most scientific attention given to macroplastics and microplastics. By contrast, ocean nanoplastics (<1 μm) remain largely unquantified, leaving gaps in our understanding of the mass budget of this plastic size class. Here we measure nanoplastic concentrations on an ocean-basin scale along a transect crossing the North Atlantic from the subtropical gyre to the northern European shelf. We find approximately 1.5–32.0 mg m−3 of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoplastics throughout the entire water column. On average, we observe a 1.4-fold higher concentration of nanoplastics in the mixed layer when compared with intermediate water depth, with highest mixed-layer nanoplastic concentrations near the European continent. Nanoplastic concentrations at intermediate water depth are 1.8-fold higher in the subtropical gyre compared with the open North Atlantic outside the gyre. The lowest nanoplastic concentrations, with about 5.5 mg m−3 on average and predominantly composed of PET, are present in bottom waters. For the mixed layer of the temperate to subtropical North Atlantic, we estimate that the mass of nanoplastic may amount to 27 million tonnes (Mt). This is in the same range or exceeding previous budget estimates of macroplastics/microplastics for the entire Atlantic or the global ocean. Our findings suggest that nanoplastics comprise the dominant fraction of marine plastic pollution.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=30937
ten Hietbrink, S., Materić, D., Holzinger, R., Groeskamp, S., Niemann, H. (2025):
Nanoplastic concentrations across the North Atlantic
Nature 643 (8071), 412 - 416 10.1038/s41586-025-09218-1