Tiny Plastics in North Atlantic Outweigh All Land Mammals

Study finds 27M metric tons of nanoplastics, a 'shocking' amount
Posted Jul 10, 2025 10:52 AM CDT
Tiny Plastics in North Atlantic Outweigh All Land Mammals
This 2010 file photo shows a blue rectangular piece of microplastic on the finger of a researcher.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Trillions of invisible plastic fragments—each smaller than a single bacterium—are polluting one section of ocean in volumes greater than all wild land mammals combined, according to a new study. Researchers estimate at least 27 million metric tons of nanoplastics, plastic fragments tinier than one micrometer, linger in the North Atlantic alone, outweighing all wild land mammals on the planet, per the New York Times. The findings, published Wednesday in Nature, add a troubling new dimension to concerns over plastic pollution, which has already been found in locations as disparate as human brain tissue and the mouths of whales.

Unlike the larger bits of plastics that have been well documented, nanoplastics have mostly evaded detection due to their minuscule size and the limits of past technology. "There were a few publications that showed that there were nanoplastics in the ocean water, but until now no estimate of the amount could ever be made," study co-author Helge Niemann of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NOIZ) says in a release. The research team, led by NOIZ and Utrecht University, embarked on a 3,500-nautical-mile sampling trek along European shores, collecting seawater across vast swaths of coastline and open ocean.

Using a mass spectrometry technique to identify the unique chemical fingerprint of burning plastics, they confirmed nanoplastics were present not just near the surface and coastlines but also as deep as 4,500 meters, or nearly 15,000 feet. Researchers observed higher concentrations near the coasts—averaging 25 milligrams per cubic meter of water, or "about the weight of a single large bird feather," per the Times. Given the "shocking" amount of nanoplastics estimated based on the results from testing locations, researchers believe plastic fragments are reaching the ocean not just through the water, but also through the air.

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