Researchers of the Northern Arctic Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov assessed the degree of microplastic contamination of bottom sediments of the Northern Dvina, as well as the White and the Barents Seas.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the Barents Sea, due to the structure of the currents of the World Ocean, has become one of the main destinations of microplastic pollution on the planet.
In the future, the research team plans to investigate the degree of microplastic contamination of the entire Russian Arctic.
The route of the current expedition was laid through the waters of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, Franz Josef Land, in particular, the islands of Kolguev, Salm and Cape Desire. In three weeks, scientists have visited all the largest hard-to-reach island territories of the Barents Sea, including the territories of indigenous peoples.
In addition, during the expedition, scientists received new data on the state of populations and the number of all ten "indicator" species of seabirds of the Barents Sea basin. They also took samples of zooplankton in the coastal zone of the Barents and the Kara Seas, insects, conducted field floristic surveys with sampling, b-port.com reports.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
