According to a study published in Nature Communications, the mass of so-calledinvisible microplastics found in the upper waters of the Atlantic is around12-21 million tonnes.
Scientist Katsiaryna Pabortsava says it was previouslyhard to balance the amount of plastic found in the ocean against what wasthought to have been put into it since the 1950s.
This was down to earlierstudies not measuring the concentrations of ‘invisible’ microplastic particlesbeneath the ocean surface.
This study indicates there is a lot more plastic inthe Atlantic than previously thought, which can severely damage marineecosystems. Microplastics are defined as pieces smaller than 5mm.