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Microplastics in Norwegian coastal areas, rivers, lakes and air (MIKRONOR1)
Norsk institutt for vannforskning
2022
Microplastics in Norwegian coastal areas, rivers, lakes and air (MIKRONOR1)
The Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet, NEA) tasked the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) to initiate Norway’s National microplastic monitoring program. The program “Microplastics in Norwegian coastal areas, rivers, lakes and air (MIKRONOR)”, was designed to target the multitude of environments in the Norwegian coastal, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The primary aim is to provide information on levels and types of microplastics in aquatic environments as well as in air and build on the baseline data already generated for a number of these environments on previous assignments by NEA.
This report contains the first results of coastal sites, open marine waters, lakes, rivers and air including high-volume water samples (freshwater and marine, n=48), Ferrybox samples (marine, n=20), blue mussels (marine, n=71), vertical plankton net samples (marine, n=29) and 24 air samples (precipitation n= 12 and active air sampling n = 12).
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA)
2022
2022
The atmosphere and cryosphere have recently garnered considerable attention due to their role in transporting microplastics to and within the Arctic, and between freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments. While investigating either in isolation provides valuable insight on the fate of microplastics in the Arctic, monitoring both provides a more holistic view. Nonetheless, despite the recent scientific interest, fundamental knowledge on microplastic abundance and consistent monitoring efforts are lacking for these compartments. Here, we build upon the work of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme's Monitoring Guidelines for Litter and Microplastic to provide a roadmap for multicompartment monitoring of the atmosphere and cryosphere to support our understanding of the sources, pathways, and sinks of plastic pollution across the Arctic. Overall, we recommend the use of existing standard techniques for ice and atmospheric sampling and to build upon existing monitoring efforts in the Arctic to obtain a more comprehensive pan-Arctic view of microplastic pollution in these two compartments.
2022
This study provides a short-term, dry-weather multi-compartment assessment of microplastic (MP) contamination in the Choghakhor Wetland, a vital freshwater ecosystem in western Iran. We quantified MPs in air, subsurface water, the surface water microlayer (SML), and sediments and developed a first-order mass-balance framework to clarify transport and fate. The SML showed much higher MP concentrations than the subsurface water when converted to volumetric units, while method-specific SML estimates varied among approaches (4.4–13.8 MP m⁻² using a glass tube; 196–982 MP m⁻² using a sieve; and 130–1754 MP m⁻² using filter paper). Subsurface water contained 0.083–1.5 MP L⁻¹, and the two sediment samples contained 60–400 MP kg⁻¹. Atmospheric deposition during the monitored intervals reached 2363 MP m⁻² h⁻¹. Flux analysis indicated that dry-weather influx exceeded observed outflux by more than three orders of magnitude. Using the conservative combined-outlet scenario, the wetland residence time was at least 168 days, whereas a water-only outlet scenario yielded ∼344 days. FLEXPART suggested that road dust dominated modeled source contributions, with smaller agricultural and soil-related contributions, although site-specific attribution remains model-based. These findings identify wetlands as important sinks and reservoirs of MPs, while emphasizing that the present results represent a dry-weather baseline rather than seasonal or annual conditions.
2026
Migration analysis of chemical additives from indoor consumer plastic products
NILU has, on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency, performed chemical analyses of a selection of chemical additives in indoor consumer plastic products. The goal was to identify content and migration of the chemical additives in and from the products to particles and surfaces of the products at room temperature. The plastic products included; furniture wrap, wall papers, table cloths, shower curtains, floor tiles, mattresses, pillows, carpet underlays and a bathtub mat. Targeted chemicals were organophosphorous flame retardants (OPFRs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs) including tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and dechloranes. MCCPs and SCCPs were found in ‰ to % levels in PVC containing products. Four of the OPFRs were found in up to ‰ levels in adhesive foils to be put on furniture or floor/walls and mattresses. None of the targeted brominated compounds nor melamine were detected in the product samples.
NILU
2023
MIKRONOR 2024 Monitoring of microplastics and tyre wear particles in the Norwegian environment
The 2024 MIKRONOR campaign, coordinated by NIVA and NILU on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency, signifcantly expanded the national monitoring framework for microplastics (MPs) to encompass diverse environmental compartments, including surface waters (Oslofjord and Lake Mjøsa), urban runoff, marine sediments, atmospheric deposition, and coastal beach sediments. Urban stormwater runoff was identifed as a predominant source of MPs, particularly tyre wear particles (TWP). Sediment samples from stormwater traps in Oslo exhibited high TWP concentrations up to 240 mg/g, constituting approximately 25% of the total sediment mass. Corresponding runoff water samples revealed MP concentrations as high as 733 ± 142 particles/L, indicating substantial episodic fuxes of MPs into receiving aquatic or marine systems. Inner Oslofjord sediments contained 0.6–3.5 % TWP by mass, confrming the high levels found in 2023. Microplastic concentrations in surface waters were generally low, ranging from 0 to 0.6 MP/m³. However, two hydrodynamic accumulation zones within the Oslofjord exhibited anomalously high concentrations, with levels approximately two orders of magnitude greater than outside the accumulation zones. One net tow recovered >7,000 fragments of expanded polystyrene, highlighting localized retention. Atmospheric deposition peaked in urban Sofenbergparken (1514 µg/m²/d; 68 % TWP) and showed a clear urban-to-remote gradient. Beach sediments at Akerøya remained low in MPs, with most samples below detection limits. The findings highlight urban runoff, especially TWP, as a dominant source to the Oslofjord, and reveal critical hotspots in both water and air pathways.
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA)
2025
2018