Arctic Ocean sediments as important current and future sinks for marine microplastics missing in the global microplastic budget

To better understand unexpectedly low plastic loads at the ocean's surface compared with inputs, unidentified sinks must be located. Here, we present the microplastic (MP) budget for multi-compartments in the western Arctic Ocean (WAO) and demonstrate that Arctic sediments serve as important current and future sinks for MPs missing from the global budget. We identified an increase of 3% year(-1) in MP deposition from sediment core observations. Relatively elevated MP abundances were found in seawater and surface sediments around the summer sea ice retreat region, implying enhanced MP accumulation and deposition facilitated by the ice barrier. We estimate 15.7 +/- 2.30 x 10(16) N and 0.21 +/- 0.14 MT as total MP loads in the WAO with 90% (by mass) buried in the post-1930 sediments, which exceeds the global average of the current marine MP load. The slower increase in plastic burial versus production implies a lag in plastic delivery to the Arctic, indicating more pollution in the future.

Automated summary

In order to explain the unexpectedly low plastic loads at the ocean's surface, unidentified sinks for plastic waste must be located. This study examines the microplastic budget in the western Arctic Ocean and finds that Arctic sediments function as important sinks for missing microplastics. The study also suggests that the slower increase in plastic burial compared to plastic production indicates more pollution in the Arctic in the future.