
There are 12-21 million tonnes of tiny plastic fragments floating in the Atlantic Ocean, scientists have found. A study, led by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, scooped through layers of the upper 200m (650ft) of the ocean during a research expedition through the middle of the Atlantic. Such an amount of plastic – 21 million tonnes – would be enough to fully load almost 1,000 container ships.
The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Dr Katsia Pabortsava, from the National Oceanography Centre, who led the study, said by measuring the mass of very small plastic particles in the top 5% of the ocean, she and her colleagues could estimate “the load of plastic in the entire Atlantic” which is “much larger” than the previous figure.
“Previously, we haven’t been abl...
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