title: Sea surface microplastics in Slovenian part of the Northern Adriatic.
abstract: Plastics are the most common material of marine litter and have become a global pollution concern. They are persistent in the environment where they gradually degrade into increasingly smaller particles-microplastics (MP). Our study presents results of sea-surface monitoring for MP in the Slovenian part of the Trieste Bay in the Northern Adriatic Sea. In 17 trawls conducted over a 20-month period we found a high average concentration of 406×103MPparticles/km2. Over 80% of the particles were identified as polyethylene. The significant variability of MP concentrations obtained on different sampling dates is explained by use of surface current maps and a recently developed Markov chain marine litter distribution model for the Adriatic Sea.
authors: University of Nova Gorica, School of Environmental Sciences, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
authors: Tamara
authors: T
authors: Gajšt
authors: University of Nova Gorica, School of Environmental Sciences, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
authors: Tine
authors: T
authors: Bizjak
authors: Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia, Dunajska c. 156, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Andreja
authors: A
authors: Palatinus
authors: Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, via M. Franceschini 31, 40128 Bologna, Italy.
authors: Svitlana
authors: S
authors: Liubartseva
authors: University of Nova Gorica, School of Environmental Sciences, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia; National Institute of Chemistry, Department for Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: andrej.krzan@ki.si.
authors: Andrej
authors: A
authors: Kržan
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D008390:Markov Chains; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis*; D020959:Polyethylene / Q000032:analysis; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis*; D017524:Slovenia; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D020959:Polyethylene
keywords: Adriatic Sea; Marine litter; Markov chain model; Microplastics; Sea surface; Slovenian sea