Monitoring Microplastics In Situ with Scout, a Field-Going Microplastics Instrument

Scout is a newly developed sensor that can detect microplastics directly in water, circumventing many of the challenges of manual analysis. The presence of microplastics has been difficult to determine due to their size and potential for contamination in manual analytical approaches. Quantifying this widespread contaminant to date has required labor-intensive manual analysis steps and costly equipment. As such, the impacts of microplastics on health and ecosystems are not fully understood. The Scout sensor uses impedance spectroscopy, an electrical technique, to monitor particles as they flow through the sensor. Microplastics can be distinguished from naturally occurring materials such as leaf litter or zooplankton using the unique electrical characteristics of plastic. This is critical for in situ measurements, as microplastics can be rare compared to naturally occurring suspended particulates. Scout can quantify microplastic size and concentration and can evaluate the relative abundance of microplastics to other particulates. We will present an overview of the measurement technique, latest improvements on Scout, and results from fieldwork in local waterways. To validate the instrument, the field measurements will be compared with results from discrete samples, analyzed in the laboratory using microscopy and ATR-FTIR.

Presentation Preference: Oral

Primary Presenter: Beckett Colson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (bcolson@whoi.edu)

Authors:

Beckett Colson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  (bcolson@whoi.edu)

Sarah Youngs, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  (syoungs@whoi.edu)

Kartikey Agarwal, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  (kartikey.agarwal@whoi.edu)

Anna Michel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  (amichel@whoi.edu)