The oceans are home to a quarter million species that have been catalogued and undoubtedly a far greater number undocumented, hosting over 80% of global biodiversity. Oceans are the planet’s primary life-support system, producing at least half of its oxygen.
A new study by scientists at the University of California, Riverside and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography has found that industrial chemicals, many of which are rarely monitored at all, are abundant and widespread in the ocean.
Taking advantage of advances in chemical analysis and data processing, the researchers applied a standardized method capable of detecting thousands of compounds simultaneously without specifying them in advance. They analyzed and compared 2,315 samples of seawater compiled from 21 publicly available datasets collected around the world between 2017 and 2022.
The researchers identified 248 human-derived compounds. The most widespread pollutants were industrial chemicals, particularly plasticizers, UV filters used in sunscreens and synthetic fragrances. The top five industrial pollutants were detected in more than 30% of all samples, including open ocean sites far from land.
So-called xenobiotics, human-made compounds, were present in higher levels closest to the coast and lowest far from shore. But their presence at all in the open ocean underscores how widespread the chemical traces of humanity have become. The effect of all these chemicals and their long-term ecological impacts are largely unknown, but it is highly unlikely that they are positive.
