Microplastics Contamination in Sediment, Water, Snow/Ice and Fish of the Canadian Arctic, 2019

Microplastics (MPs) contaminate the oceans from the poles to the equators and from the sea surface to the deep sea. In addition, MPs have been recorded in freshwater systems, including in lakes, rivers and streams globally. Not only an aquatic issue, MPs infiltrate terrestrial ecosystems in landfills, agricultural settings, along beaches, and even in the air. It therefore comes as no surprise that MPs have been identified as a global pollutant of concern that is capable of long-range transport and causing adverse effects in wildlife, but limited information is available for Canadian Arctic regions. Consequently, the NCP has identified assessing the presence and distribution of MPs in Arctic marine ecosystems a priority. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has also added Marine Plastics and MPs to their list of Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern.


We collected water, sediment and zooplankton for MPs in the summer of 2019 as a part of ArcticNet from on board the CCGS Amundsen. Additional water and sediment samples were collected from the R/V William Kennedy in western Hudson Bay and Chesterfield Inlet as a part of GENICE. Water samples were collected by bucketing surface water and filtered through a polycarbonate filter that captured the microplastics. Sediment samples were collected from push cores in a box corer, the top 0-5cm was collected. Zooplankton samples were collected from Tucker Nets using 250um mesh size and then speciated. All samples were distributed to collaborators at Universities of Toronto, McGill and Western Ontario for further processing and analysis. Analysis will be done by FTIR and/or Raman Spectroscopy.

Simple

Date (Publication)
2020-01-21
Principal investigator
 

Jantunen, Liisa
Originator
 

Corcoran, Patricia
ri_419
 

Bernstein, Sarah
ri_419
 

Chirkov, Diane
ri_419
 

Diamond, Miriam
ri_419
 

Hung, Hayley
ri_419
 

Loria, Ainsleigh
ri_419
 

Neff, Brian
ri_419
 

Rochman, Chelsea
ri_419
 

Stern, Gary
ri_419
 

Tufenkji, Nathalie
Other citation details

Jantunen, L., Corcoran, P., Bernstein, S., Chirkov, D., Diamond, M., Hung, H., Loria, A., Neff, B., Rochman, C., Stern, G. & Tufenkji, N. (2019). Microplastics Contamination in Sediment, Water, Snow/Ice and Fish of the Canadian Arctic, 2019. Waterloo, Canada: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN). (Unpublished data).
Purpose

To determine the occurrence, amounts and types of microplastics in Canadian Arctic air, water, sediment and fish. Microplastic (MP) particles are mixed with the food sources of marine organisms and could be accidentally or deliberately ingested during foraging. To mitigate ecological impacts, it is essential to understand the sources, fate and consequences of MPs in the aquatic environment and the impacts of these contaminants on the health and traditional lifestyles of Northerners. Studies of MPs in polar regions are rare compared to temperate region examples, and thus we propose to sample snow, ice, water, sediment and fish to determine the extent of contamination of the Canadian Arctic ecosystem. In collaboration with the Northern Contaminants Program and ArcticNet we will sample throughout the Canadian Archipelago, including Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea from on board several Canadian Coast Guard ships.
Status
Planned
Point of contact
 

Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

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Polar Data Catalogue

200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

 ,

Waterloo

 ,

Ontario

 ,

N2L 3G1

 ,

Canada
(519) 888-4567 x32689
polardata.ca

Polar Data Catalogue Thesaurus (Canada)

  • Air

  • Microplastics

  • Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

  • Plastics

  • Sediment cores

  • Water
Place

  • Marine samples in the Canadian Arctic, from the Beaufort Sea to the Davis Strait
Access constraints
Other restrictions
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints

Terms of Use of the Polar Data Catalogue: https://www.polardata.ca/pdcinput/public/termsofuse

Metadata language

eng; CAN
Topic category
  • Environment
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Begin date
2019-06-01
End date
2019-10-30
Supplemental Information

Summary: Not Applicable Research Program(s): ArcticNet,NCP. For further information: liisa.jantunen@canada.ca liisa.jantunen@canada.ca

Distribution format

  • Digital file

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    1.0

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Distributor
 

Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

 -

Polar Data Catalogue

200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

 ,

Waterloo

 ,

Ontario

 ,

N2L 3G1

 ,

Canada
(519) 888-4567 x32689
Included with dataset
No
File identifier
ae8d6f43-62c9-43b3-9427-362ea27389ea XML
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2022-04-08T12:59:31
Metadata standard name

North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003
Metadata standard version

2009-01-01
Point of contact
 

Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

 -

Polar Data Catalogue

200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

 ,

Waterloo

 ,

Ontario

 ,

N2L 3G1

 ,

Canada
(519) 888-4567 x32689
Dataset URI

https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/PDCSearchDOI.jsp?doi_id=13058

 
 

Overviews

overview

Spatial extent

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W
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Keywords

Polar Data Catalogue Thesaurus (Canada)
Air Microplastics Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Plastics Sediment cores Water

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