microplastics

National Oceanography Centre (NOC) research has revealed for the first time how submarine sediment avalanches can transport microplastics from land into the deep ocean. The study also revealed that these flows are responsible for sorting different types of microplastics – burying some, and moving others vast distances across the sea floor. 

Research published earlier in the week reveals that microplastics often accumulate on the deep sea floor in the same place as diverse and dense marine life communities.

Microplastics are the most dominant particulate contaminant identified in the global ocean.

Researchers at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) studying the UK’s four largest Marine Protected Areas have found that, because of the ocean’s vigorous circulation, even remote, seemingly pristine habitats, are not isolated from human activities, and may be vulnerable to pollution and overfishing impacts.

On Friday 14 April the RRS Discovery will leave Southampton for a research expedition to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain sustained ocean observatory (PAP-SO) in the Northeast Atlantic.

This week researchers from NOC and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) have embarked on a collaborative research expedition to further understand how tiny pieces of plastic litter are spreading in the open ocean and affecting life within.