These powerful flows could be capable of traveling at speeds of up to eight meters per second, carrying plastic waste from the continental shelf to depths of more than 3,200 metres.
New research from CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, and the University of Toronto in Canada, estimates up to 11 million metric tons of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor.
The degradation status of the buried particles was investigated, and it was found that, once trapped in the seafloor, they no longer degrade, either due to lack of erosion, oxygen, or light.
The results provide insights into the temporal variability of sinking microplastics and thus a first approach to understanding their fate in the ocean.
The conclusions show that the levels of microplastics in the Mediterranean are probably higher than estimated, but the methods used are not capable of recording them.
As a result of this melting, the planet's bright, reflective surfaces decrease in area. And as a result of that decrease, even more sunlight is absorbed by the surface, resulting in greater warming.
