if ('tidyverse' %in% rownames(installed.packages()) == 'FALSE') install.packages('tidyverse')

library(tidyverse)

Learning Objective

What are the commonly measured concentrations of microplastics in Puget Sound, Washington? This goal of this objective is to understand the environmentally relevant range of this type of pollutant.

“Simply stated, we do not currently know levels of microplastics in the ocean (water, sediments, organisms), the spatial and temporal distribution of microplastics, the sources of these materials (either in absolute or relative terms), or the direct or indirect impacts microplastics may be having on marine life. From a basic understanding of the processes degrading plastic in the environment, it is likely that marine microplastics will persist in the ocean for very long times, and that levels of microplastics are likely accumulating world-wide (Thompson et al., 2004).” - Center for Urban Waters, Sources and Distribution of Marine Microplastics

Who monitors marine microplastics in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, and what are they finding?

Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium, Seattle, Washington engages in long-term monitoring of plastics and marine debris collected from their seawater intake pump and off the side of the pier where they are located. They published some of their data taken from 2019-2020 in Harris et al. (2022), where they indicate they found between 0.0 and 0.64 microparticles sized between 330 μm to 5000 μm per liter of seawater sampled.

Only microparticles 330 to 5000 μm (length; Masura et al., 2015) were categorized and measured due to the resolution of the microscope and camera. - Harris et al. (2022), p. 919

Harris, Lyda S. T., Laura La Beur, Amy Y. Olsen, Angela Smith, Lindsey Eggers, Emily Pedersen, Jennifer Van Brocklin, Susanne M. Brander, and Shawn Larson. 2022. “Temporal Variability of Microparticles Under the Seattle Aquarium, Washington State: Documenting the Global Covid-19 Pandemic.” Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 41 (4): 917–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5190.

data from years 2019-2020
data from 9m depth at Seattle Aquarium intake pump in downtown Seattle
seawater matrix
size class: 330 μm to 5000 μm

Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP)

2022 Toxics Monitoring Synthesis

Pollution Tracker

Coast-wide Marine Pollution Monitoring Program in British Columbia, Canada

Elizabeth Ruberg, Marie Noel, Kelsey Delisle (Ocean Wise, https://pollutiontracker.org)

Pollution Tracker, Microplastics

Pollution Tracker Phase 1 (2015-2017) and Phase 2 (2018-2020) provide a high-quality coast wide baseline dataset
During Phases 1 (2015-2017) and 2 (2018-2020), both legacy pollutants and emerging contaminants of concern were measured in sediment and mussels
Microplastics were characterized in sediment and mussels
Phase 1 results have been summarized in Noel et al. 2022 (under review) and will be posted once published. Key results include:
- Microplastics averaged 32.6 ± 5.3 particles per kg in sediment and 0.38 ± 0.04 particles per individual mussel
- Victoria Harbour and the North Coast were microplastics hotspots along the BC coast
- Polyester and polyethylene dominated the polymer patterns in sediment and mussels
- Analysis of Phase 2 microplastics samples and interpretation of results is in progress.

Frances Eshom-Arzadon, University of Washington School of Oceanography

Undergrad senior thesis: Concentration of Microplastics in Beach Sediments Surrounding Seattle, Washington in the Puget Sound Estuary
size class: 300 - 5000 um
Eshom-Arzadon found between ~312-30 microplastic pieces per square meter across 12 sites

site <- c('alki', 'carkeek', 'goldengardens', 'howarth', 'mukilteo', 'dash', 'tolmie', 'elliot', 'discovery', 'shine', 'picnic', 'edmonds')

microplastic_pieces <- c(249, 285, 135, 312, 30, 138, 111, 126, 135, 102, 114, 39)

eshomarzadon <- tibble(
  site = site, 
  microplastic_pieces = microplastic_pieces
  )

mean(microplastic_pieces)

[1] 148

sd(microplastic_pieces)

[1] 89.05259

if ('hrbrthemes' %in% rownames(installed.packages()) == 'FALSE') install.packages('hrbrthemes')
if ('viridis' %in% rownames(installed.packages()) == 'FALSE') install.packages('viridis')

library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
library(hrbrthemes)

Warning: package 'hrbrthemes' was built under R version 4.2.3

NOTE: Either Arial Narrow or Roboto Condensed fonts are required to use these themes.

      Please use hrbrthemes::import_roboto_condensed() to install Roboto Condensed and

      if Arial Narrow is not on your system, please see https://bit.ly/arialnarrow

library(viridis)

Warning: package 'viridis' was built under R version 4.2.3

Loading required package: viridisLite

Warning: package 'viridisLite' was built under R version 4.2.3

eshomarzadon %>% 
  ggplot(aes(x=site, y=microplastic_pieces)) +
  geom_violin(width=1.4) +
  geom_boxplot(width = 0.1, color = 'grey', alpha=0.2) +
  scale_fill_viridis(discrete=TRUE) +
  theme_ipsum()

Warning: Groups with fewer than two data points have been dropped.

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Warning in max(data$density): no non-missing arguments to max; returning -Inf

Warning: Computation failed in `stat_ydensity()`
Caused by error in `$<-.data.frame`:
! replacement has 1 row, data has 0

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followed NOAA Marine Debris Program lab manual methods

“As part of her senior thesis project, Eshom-Arzadon visited each location once at the same time in the tidal cycle between November and February. She scraped sediment from an area just below the wrack line, the line of debris left by the high tide. She visited beaches from Tolmie State Park near Olympia, along the Seattle and Everett shorelines and as far out as Port Ludlow on the Olympic Peninsula, a control site far from populated areas.” - Hannah Hickey, UW News

Jessica Moats, University of Washington School of Oceanography, Vertical distribution of microplastics in Hood Canal and Main Basin, Puget Sound, Washington

undergrad senior thesis
mentored by Kathy Newell
followed NOAA Marine Debris Program lab manual methods
3.05x10-5 g/m3 average microplastic concentration across depths and sites
1 cubic meter is 1000 liters
So we’re looking at 3.05X10-8 grams per liter in seawater

Keely Hall, University of Washington School of Oceanography

net tows through Commencement Bay
seawater matrix
data from UW Tacoma
data from years 2017 - 2018
63% fibers, 37% fragment in 2018
100% fibers in 2017
~30-4 particles per liter in 2017
~4-12 particles per liter in 2018

Puget Sound Microplastics

Who monitors marine microplastics in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, and what are they finding?

Seattle Aquarium

Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP)

Pollution Tracker

Frances Eshom-Arzadon, University of Washington School of Oceanography

Jessica Moats, University of Washington School of Oceanography, Vertical distribution of microplastics in Hood Canal and Main Basin, Puget Sound, Washington

Keely Hall, University of Washington School of Oceanography

Julie Masura, UW Tacoma Teaching Professor

Center for Urban Waters

Pacific Northwest Consortium on Plastics