How do you collect microplastics hundreds of metres below the ocean surface?
It’s tricky – which is why a lot of marine microplastics research to date has been done on plastics floating at the surface.
Dr Marina Santana and her team use a specially designed submersible pump, which can be lowered up to 400 metres deep on a tether cable. It is also lightweight, and in shallower waters can be deployed off smaller vessels such as tenders.
Super handy! But even better is the pump’s ability to limit contamination of our samples by other plastics (for example, on our clothes, gear, or in the air).
🎥 Marina explains the pump’s other cool features (live data collection, anyone?) Plus, you can watch a demo in our display tank at the National Sea Simulator (SeaSim).
🌊 Learn more about AIMS marine microplastics research: https://vist.ly/5im3s
