An Australian man who has circumnavigated the world 11 times on a yacht has used his most recent voyage to collect samples of seawater, which scientists now say is proof that microplastics have contaminated even the most remote oceans in the world. world.
Key points:
- Investigators used 177 samples collected by lone sailor Jon Sanders on his 11th circumnavigation voyage
- Scientists say microplastics were detected in places that had never been tested before, including remote parts of the ocean.
- Curtin University says previous studies had not tested microplastics in the southern oceans
Researchers at Curtin University used samples collected by lone sailor Jon Sanders to develop what they described as the first accurate measure of the presence of microplastics in distant ocean environments.
“The aim of the study was to target areas of the world’s oceans that had not previously been shown for microplastics and to produce a complete global snapshot of the distribution of microplastics,” said Professor Kliti Grice, Principal Investigator. of the study.
“Our analysis found that microplastics were present in the vast majority of water sampled by Jon, even in very remote oceanic areas of the southern hemisphere.”
Sanders collected hundreds of samples during his expedition, which he completed in January last year, covering 46,100 miles of ocean, including areas that had never been tested for microplastics.
Project initiated by the sailor
Mr. Sanders has seen pollution first hand in his many trips around the world. (Provided by: Stephen Davis)
The water sampling project was started by Mr. Sanders, who had witnessed the extent of visible plastic pollution during his previous travels around the world.
I wanted to investigate the presence of less visible microplastics in the oceans that had never been tested before.
Alan Scarlett, a co-researcher at Curtin University, told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth that previous tests had focused on other parts of the world.
“Most science trips have been to the northern hemisphere, like the UK coast and things like that, so there was almost no data on the Southern Ocean,” Dr. Scarlett said.
“So it was really Jon who came up with this idea. He came to us.”
Microplastics come from products such as vehicle tires, textiles, construction debris, cosmetics, and packaging materials.
Some of the particles are as small as human hair.
Samples sent by courier to WA
Mr. Sanders is the one who approached the university with the idea of sampling microplastics throughout his journey. (Provided by: Stephen Davis)
During his 455-day voyage aboard the Perie Banou II, the samples were sent by courier to the Western Australian laboratory while Mr Sanders stopped at various ports along the way.
Scarlett said the average sample taken off the Australian coast detected about 33 microplastic particles per cubic meter of seawater, which she said was in line with the global average.
But scientists believe their findings may be just the tip of the iceberg, with many of the fibers detected being too small to analyze.
Scarlett said other studies also suggested that there was a much larger number of microplastics at a greater depth than was shown during this study.
“The figures reported are likely to be an underestimation of the actual number of microplastics present in the oceans,” he said.
The analysis of the Curtin University samples was published on Friday in a report entitled “Around the Plastic World in 455 Days”.
Posted 6 hours, 6 hours ago, Friday, May 27, 2022 at 8:03 AM, updated 5 hours, 5 hours ago, Friday, May 27, 2022 at 8:39 AM