The Ocean Race spans 32,000 nautical miles (60,000 km) around the globe and is a six-month-long journey for sailors who participate. Although scientific research isn’t its main function, researchers call on sailors to collect water samples throughout each leg, helping them collect data on everything from sea temperatures to CO2, and measuring the prominence of microplastic pollution in different parts of the world. This effort actually makes it the world’s most comprehensive science program created through a sporting event.
“We are in a unique position to contribute to this; data collected during our previous races have been included in crucial reports about the state of the planet that have informed and influenced decisions by governments,” says Stefan Raimund, Science Lead at The Ocean Race. “Knowing that we can make a difference in this way has inspired us to expand our science program even further and collaborate with more of the world’s leading science organizations to support their vital research.”
This year’s race returned at least one particularly grim finding: every water sample taken during the race contained microplastics, and concentrations in some remote locations were as much as 18 times higher than samples from the 2017-2018 race.
“It’s really concerning that we are finding microplastics in every sample, from coastal areas to the most remote regions of the ocean,” said Victoria Fulfer, a visiting scientist from the University of Rhode Island at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in the UK. “We are seeing much higher concentrations this year, which can be a sign of increased pollution, but also is related to the increased sensitivity of our analysis.”
The last part of that statement seems to leave room open for the idea that there aren’t actually more microplastics in our ocean compared to 2017-2018 – the equipment and methods used just happen to be detecting more of them. However, it still proves the problem is more prominent than we knew just over five years ago. As much as 1,884 microplastic particles were found per cubic meter of ocean water in some samples, with the highest concentrations near coastal areas and near garbage patch areas where currents collect trash and pollution in one place. These findings aren’t exactly new revelations, but the problem making its way to the most remote parts of the ocean might be. Samples that were taken near Point Nemo, which is 2,688km (1,450 nautical miles) from land in all directions, making it the world’s most remote area, revealed 320 microplastic particles per cubic meter.
