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Mikroplastika od zadarskog do Karinskog i Novigradskog mora / Microplastics from the Zadar Sea to the Karin and Novigrad Sea
Organization(s):Medicinska škola Ante Kuzmanića
Country:Croatia
Student(s):Angela Jovanovski, Marta Klapan, Monika Mevželj
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Marijana Škunca-Vrkić
Contributors:
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrates, pH, Water Temperature, Water Transparency
Presentation Poster:
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Language(s):Croatian
Date Submitted:03/06/2024
Since the pollution of the marine environment by microplastics has attracted increasing attention in recent years, we were interested in whether there are microplastic particles in our sea as well. We examined the presence of microplastics at two locations in the Zadar area, Punta Bajlo and Jazine bay once a month through February and March 2023. We compared the obtained data with the measurements we carried out in the same period at two locations in closed parts of the sea, the Karin and Novigrad seas. We were also interested in the accuracy of our data for the physical-chemical analysis of the sea, which we perform according to GLOBE protocols. We compared the results of our measurements with the data of the Department for Health Ecology and Environmental Protection, Institute of Public Health Zadar. The research results showed that there are more different microplastic particles in the Karin and Novigrad seas. Possible reasons for the higher proportion of artificial textile fibers are inadequate drainage, urbanization and tourism. The largest amount of microplastics in the Zadar area is in the Jazine bay, probably due to the closure of the bay and higher ship traffic, compared to the Punta Bajlo station. There are more microplastic particles in the Karin Sea than in the Novigrad Sea, probably due to the closedness of the Karin Sea and weaker water flow and exchange. The data obtained by carrying out the physical-chemical analysis of the sea according to GLOBE protocols differ from the data of the Department for Health Ecology and Environmental Protection, which is what we expected. We noticed the biggest deviation during the electrical conductivity test, probably due to the device we use, whose maximum measurement value is 2000 µS/cm.