Science on board
Deploying the manta trawl. Video by: Claire McCluskey
What makes eXXpedition’s Round the World Science Program so different?
Uses standard methods throughout the voyage, making it easier to compare worldwide
Working with multidisciplinary scientists & industry looking to tackle the issue in numerous ways
Covering both land & sea (3 marine compartments)
Contribute to existing data & develop novel insights
Identify plastic polymers and their relative contributions to assess sources and understand material flows
Provide evidence-based solutions
Science during Leg 7:
Sediment Grabs: is the seafloor a sink for plastic pollution? To answer that question samples are taken in every dock where the boat anchors and then analysed back in the labs.
Manta trawls and ATR-FTIR analysis: how much plastic is in the water surface? how do the types vary and how do ocean currents affect the accumulation? By using the Manta trawl eXXpedition is trying to answer these questions. To get this done it required several steps:
Deploy the trawl
All items that were collected in the Manta's mesh were then sieved
Sorted according to their size
We were lucky to access an ATR- FTIR, an instrument capable of identifying the polymer types of plastics, giving us a better idea of what were the plastic types present in our samples.
Niskin Bottle: by deploying the Niskin bottle down to 25mts, this study aims to compare the amount of plastic particles in subsurface waters compared to the surface. While on board we had to filter the water, to send it back to the labs to be analysed. These samples will be the first global dataset of its kind.
Air Sampling: Are microplastics transported and deposited by air? This study, done in collaboration with King's College London, was created to understand the potential of wind to transport microplastics to remote locations. To catch the samples, 2 buckets were tied to the mast and then the water was filtered prior to sampling in the labs.
Studying the air that we breathe gave me a new perspective on the depth and magnitude of the plastics problem.
As part of the itinerary of work, we had to give a presentation about our experience out at sea to the local community in Easter Island. Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is considered one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world and it is located at the heart of one of the least studied ocean gyres, the South Pacific Gyre. Which provided with very interesting preliminary results and to the real situation around these areas of converging ocean currents:
There was no ‘island of plastic’, the ocean was pristine, the problem is not as it meets the eye. The ocean has turned into a 'plastic soup' of millions of microplastics.
I designed this infographic in collaboration with my crewmates to show our preliminary findings:
Please note that these are very early numbers taken from the samples that we were able to count on board. eXXpedition will release official results once the Round the World voyage is finalised.