Plastic pollution is among the greatest threats to the marine environment, and the Arctic Ocean is not immune. Assessing the potential impacts on marine ecosystems requires an understanding of the oceanic pathways that carry these particles from their sources to their sinks. Models are indispensable tools to gain this understanding, given the challenges of observing microplastics in the ocean, in particular in an environment like the Arctic. In this session highlighted several modeling approaches to the tracking of microplastics in the ocean, and in sea ice.

Erik van Sebille (Utrecht University) presented on mapping the origins, transport, and fate of floating plastic in the Arctic. Alethea Mountford (Northumbria University) presented on modeling the transport and accumulation of microplastics in Arctic sea ice.

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Thumbnail photo: NOAA

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