File:Arctic microplastic pollution, Svalbard Archipelago.jpg

English: Plastic particles are increasingly recognised as global contaminants as they have reached even the most remote areas of the planet, including the Arctic Ocean. A recent study that has been published in the Nature Communications scientific journal reveals that 92% of microplastic pollution found in sampled seawater across the Arctic is made of synthetic fibres. Of this, around 73 percent was found to be polyester, resembling the dimensions and chemical signature of synthetic textiles, particularly clothing. As stated by one of the authors of the study, there is strong evidence that homes in Europe and North America are directly polluting the Arctic with fibres from washing machines sewage. This SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) false colour image, that has been acquired by one of the two Sentinel-1 satellites on 13 January 2020, shows, mostly visible in white, two islands of the Svalbard Archipelago in Norway. The one on the left, not completely visible, is Spitsbergen, the largest island of the archipelago, while the one on the right is Nordaustlandet, the second largest. According to the results of the study, the seawater samples retrieved off the eastern Svalbard coast have some of the highest values of microplastic concentration among all the Arctic sites included in the research. RADAR data, as those provided by the Sentinel-1 mission, are not influenced by the presence of clouds, or by polar seasonal long nights. They are therefore particularly useful for monitoring Polar Regions when optical sensors cannot be used.