Beck, Aaron , Goldstein, Josephine, Javidpour, Jamileh , Kossel, Elke , Lopes, Clara, Pantó, Gabriella, Saupe, Anna and Wittmann, Andreas (2020) RiverOceanPlastic: Land-ocean transfer of plastic debris in the North Atlantic, Cruise No. AL534/2, 05 March – 26 March 2020, Malaga (Spain) – Kiel (Germany) . . Alkor-Berichte, AL534/2 . GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, 43 pp. DOI 10.3289/CR_AL534-2.

Preview

Text 2020_AL534-2_CruiseReport_final.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Cruise AL534/2 is part of a multi-disciplinary research initiative as part of the JPI Oceans project
HOTMIC and sought to investigate the origin, transport and fate of plastic debris from estuaries to
the oceanic garbage patches. The main focus of the cruise was on the horizontal transfer of plastic
debris from major European rivers into shelf regions and on the processes that mediate this
transport. Stations were originally chosen to target the outflows of major European rivers along the
western Europe coast between Malaga (Spain) and Kiel (Germany), although some modifications
were made in response to inclement weather. In total, 16 stations were sampled along the cruise
track. The sampling scheme was similar for most stations, and included: 1) a CTD cast to collect
water column salinity and temperature profiles, and discrete samples between surface and
seafloor, 2) sediment sampling with Van Veen grab and mini-multi corer (mini-MUC), 3) suspended
particle and plankton sampling using a towed Bongo net and vertical WP3 net, and 4) surface
neusten sampling using a catamaran trawl. At a subset of stations with deep water, suspended
particles were collected using in situ pumps deployed on a cable. During transit between stations,
surface water samples were collected from the ship’s underway seawater supply, and during calm
weather, floating litter was counted by visual survey teams. The samples and data collected on
cruise AL534/2 will be used to determine the: (1) abundance of plastic debris in surface waters, as
well as the composition of polymer types, originating in major European estuaries and transported
through coastal waters, (2) abundance and composition of microplastics (MP) in the water column
at different depths from the sea surface to the seafloor including the sediment, (3) abundance and
composition of plastic debris in pelagic and benthic organisms (invertebrates), (4) abundance and
identity of biofoulers (bacteria, protozoans and metazoans) on the surface of plastic debris from
different water depths, (5) identification of chemical compounds (“additives”) in the plastic debris
and in water samples.

Actions (login required)

View Item