Assessment of seasonal variability of input of microplastics from the Northern Dvina River to the Arctic Ocean

Northern Dvina River is one of the largest rivers in the European Arctic flowing into the White Sea through the populated regions with developed industry. Floating plastics include microplastics (0.5–5 mm) and mesoplastics (5–25 mm) were observed on seasonal variations in the Northern Dvina River mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2022-02, Vol.175, p.113370-113370, Article 113370
Main Authors: Zhdanov, Igor, Lokhov, Alexey, Belesov, Artem, Kozhevnikov, Aleksandr, Pakhomova, Svetlana, Berezina, Anfisa, Frolova, Natalia, Kotova, Ekaterina, Leshchev, Andrey, Wang, Xinhong, Zavialov, Peter, Yakushev, Evgeniy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arctic Regions
Chemical composition
Environmental Monitoring - methods
FT-IR spectroscopy
Industrial development
Infrared spectrometers
Microplastic in rivers
Microplastic pollution
Microplastics
Microplastics - analysis
Neuston
Northern Dvina
Oceans and Seas
Plastic debris
Plastic pollution
Polar environments
Pollution sources
Polyethylene
Polyethylenes
Polypropylene
River mouth
River mouths
Rivers
Rivers - chemistry
Seasonal variation
Seasonal variations
Seasons
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:Northern Dvina River is one of the largest rivers in the European Arctic flowing into the White Sea through the populated regions with developed industry. Floating plastics include microplastics (0.5–5 mm) and mesoplastics (5–25 mm) were observed on seasonal variations in the Northern Dvina River mouth. The samples were collected every month from September to November 2019 and from May to October 2020 with a Neuston net that was togged 3 nautical miles in the Korbel'nyy Branch of the River delta. Chemical composition of the plastic particles was determined using a Fourier transmission infrared spectrometer. The majority of the microplastics were identified as polyethylene 52.6%, followed by polypropylene 36.8%. After estimating the export fluxes of microplastics from the Northern Dvina River to the Arctic, there is no significant seasonal variation of the river export of microplastics. The microplastics export rate during the spring flood period in May turned out to be maximum, 58 items/s, while the minimum discharge was in September with a value of 9 items/s. The average weight concentration of microplastics was 18.5 μg/m3, which is higher than it was found in the Barents Sea – 12.5 μg/m3 and several times higher than in the Eurasian Arctic on average - 3.7 μg/m3. These results indicate that the Northern Dvina River is being one of the main sources of microplastic pollution of the White and the Barents Seas. •The Northern Dvina is one of the sources of microplastic pollution in the White Sea.•Seasonal variations in the plastic load are determined by runoff variability.•The Northern Dvina River is less polluted with microplastics than other rivers.•All major positive buoyancy plastics have been found in our samples.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113370