Collaborative Research: CAS-MNP: Sea ice-ocean exchange of Arctic microplastics: linking small scales to the large-scale system

合作研究：CAS-MNP：北极微塑料的海冰-海洋交换：将小规模与大规模系统联系起来

• 批准号: 2138316
• 负责人: Michael Steele
• 金额: $ 265.24万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2138316&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; CAS; MNP; Sea

Microplastics, defined as plastic pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, are a massive litter problem in the world’s oceans. The Arctic Ocean, while remote, is not immune; recent work has found microplastics in all components of the Arctic system, including within the floating sea ice cover. While marine microplastics are ubiquitous, the physical characteristics of the polar oceans, including sea ice, lead to effects unique to the polar regions. For example, microplastics may have an impact on climate by darkening the usually bright white sea ice and its overlying snow cover, which would result in an increase in the absorption of sunlight and thus in warming and melting. Furthermore, the presence of sea ice affects where microplastics are found within the Arctic, as sea ice and the underlying ocean transport microplastics differently. This project is addressing both of these processes. As microplastics are a global problem with potential impact on the health of the marine ecosystem, understanding the way sea ice and microplastics interact is crucial for informing strategies to deal with this pollution in the future. In this interdisciplinary research project, laboratory studies and numerical models are being used together to make progress in understanding the interactions between Arctic sea ice and microplastics. The researchers are developing new laboratory techniques to understand the exchange of microplastics between sea ice and the ocean during uptake and release, including the effect of marine gels on this process. They are also measuring the effects of the optical properties of microplastics on the mass balance of sea ice. Based on those laboratory insights, they are developing and testing parameterizations for including microplastics in open-source, community sea ice, ocean, and climate models. Both one-dimensional (i.e., vertical column) and three-dimensional (i.e., full sea ice/ocean-coupled) models are being modified from existing code and run. Hindcast and future simulations are being performed to assess the impact of including microplastic ice-ocean exchange parameterizations on the large-scale distribution of microplastics in the Arctic Seas and their impact on climate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

微塑料，定义为小于5毫米的塑料片，是世界海洋中一个巨大的垃圾问题。北冰洋虽然偏远，但也不能幸免；最近的研究发现，北极系统的所有组成部分都存在微塑料，包括在漂浮的海冰覆盖范围内。虽然海洋微塑料无处不在，但极地海洋的物理特性，包括海冰，导致了极地地区特有的影响。例如，微塑料可能会使通常明亮的白色海冰及其覆盖的雪盖变暗，从而对气候产生影响，这将导致对阳光的吸收增加，从而导致变暖和融化。此外，海冰的存在会影响在北极发现微塑料的地方，因为海冰和底层海洋输送微塑料的方式不同。该项目正在处理这两个过程。由于微塑料是一个对海洋生态系统健康有潜在影响的全球性问题，了解海冰和微塑料相互作用的方式对于制定未来应对这种污染的战略至关重要。在这一跨学科研究项目中，实验室研究和数值模型一起被用来在理解北冰洋海冰和微塑料之间的相互作用方面取得进展。研究人员正在开发新的实验室技术，以了解海冰和海洋在吸收和释放过程中微塑料的交换，包括海洋凝胶对这一过程的影响。他们还在测量微塑料的光学特性对海冰质量平衡的影响。基于这些实验室的见解，他们正在开发和测试在开源、社区海冰、海洋和气候模型中包括微塑料的参数。一维(即垂直柱)和三维(即全海冰/海洋耦合)模型都在现有代码和运行的基础上进行修改。正在进行后播和未来的模拟，以评估包括微塑料冰-海洋交换参数化对北冰洋微塑料大规模分布的影响及其对气候的影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。