http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EF000240/abstract

Rachel W. Obbard, Saeed Sadri, Ying Qi Wong, Alexandra A. Khitun, Ian
Baker and Richard C. Thompson
Global warming releases microplastic legacy frozen in Arctic Sea ice
Earth's Future
Accepted manuscript online: 20 MAY 2014 09:11AM EST | DOI:
10.1002/2014EF000240

Abstract
When sea ice forms it scavenges and concentrates particulates from the
water column, which then become trapped until the ice melts. In recent
years, melting has led to record lows in Arctic sea ice extent, the most
recent in September 2012. Global climate models, such as that of Gregory
et al. [2002], suggest that the decline in Arctic sea ice volume (3.4%
per decade), will actually exceed the decline in sea ice extent,
something that Laxon et al. [2013] have shown supported by satellite
data. The extent to which melting ice could release anthropogenic
particulates back to the open ocean has not yet been examined. Here we
show that Arctic sea ice from remote locations contains concentrations
of microplastics at least two orders of magnitude greater than those
that have been previously reported in highly contaminated surface
waters, such as those of the Pacific Gyre. Our findings indicate that
microplastics have accumulated far from population centers and that
polar sea ice represents a major historic global sink of man-made
particulates. The potential for substantial quantities of legacy
microplastic contamination to be released to the ocean as the ice melts
therefore needs to be evaluated, as do the physical and toxicological
effects of plastics on marine life.
Keywords: Microplastics; sea ice; Arctic; pollution

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EF000240/pdf