MICROPLASTIC IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

?????The distribution of microplastics is currently a significant challenge on a global scale. Plastic with a size between one micron and five millimeters has a harmful impact, both on the environment, biota, and humans. Recently a new method was discovered to identify microplastics in the sea, namely laser imaging (Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL)). This method has high potential for analyzing microplastics, ranging from time-efficient and sophisticated (Hildebrandt et al., 2020). This QCL rapidly and widely emits in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum (Doulamis et al., 2021). This method, the fourier transformation eliminates and captures the IR spectrum much more quickly than with sophisticated FTIR microscopes (Ogunleke, 2017). In addition, this QCL has a higher peak signal with a positive effect on sensitivity (Childs et al., 2015).

?????From the results obtained by Hildebrandt et al. (2022) in using this method, many microplastic particles, such as polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene are fragmented from land to the open sea. These microplastics are distributed through the Sunda Strait, the strait between Sumatra and Java, and most of the microplastics found have entered the Indian Ocean. In fact, most of the world's plastic waste is eventually exported to countries liberated by the Indian Ocean. The level of these microplastics is greatly influenced by inputs from rivers with westward transport from the Indonesian Traffic Flow. In addition, China, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam account for approximately 50% of textile and apparel production (Agarwal et al., 2017). It was found that the particle concentration greatly increased with a decrease in the microplastic particle size of >95% to less than 100 mm. The concentration of these microplastics is reported to be greatly increased if particles <10 mm or 20 mm can be reliably quantified. More attention is needed in managing the world's waste and learning more about microplastics in the Indian Ocean to gain a better understanding of their distribution.

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Hildebrandt, L., El Gareb, F., Zimmermann, T., Klein, O., Kerstan, A., Emeis, K.-C., & Pr?frock, D. (2022). Spatial distribution of microplastics in the tropical Indian Ocean based on laser direct infrared imaging and microwave-assisted Matrix Digestion. Environmental Pollution, 307, 119547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119547??

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Author : Salsabila Hana Zyria Tanjung