Microplastics discovered in deep cold-water habitat

Irish artists Gareth Kennedy and Sarah Browne joined a six-day research expedition on board the Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer to investigate cold-water habitats in the Porcupine Bank Canyon, over 300km off the west coast of Ireland.

Their mission was to take internal and external photographs, video and audio recordings and to talk to the scientists and crew and to visit the dry and wet labs. The next step for Kennedy Browne is to produce a sculpture and audio broadcast for presentation as part of Aerial/Sparks which in 2020 will showcase acoustic projects that survey human relationship with the ocean.

The survey, led by University College Cork’s Dr Aaron Lim, was to recover monitoring systems that had been recording speed, temperatures and direction of currents around the cold-water coral habitats since early summer.

The landers also gathered food, sediment and microplastic samples to learn  how the corals are coping with the changing oceans.

Collaboration

Kennedy Browne observed that the data gathered was shared by the geology and zoology scientists.

“It was impressive to see knowledge being collaboratively shared and worked through in this way. Seeing and thinking about coral as a material in this way led us to some research into its mythology and its representation in paintings form the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. It’s richly evocative material and we hope to incorporate it into our project.”

The artists also observed the video feed from ROV Holland I as it searched the ocean floor for the landers.

“It’s difficult to convey the tension and awe of watching the feed. We witnessed incredible beauty and banal violence on the sea floor, an albino rabbitfish (Chimaera monstrosa) and a discount shopping bag caught under a rock. Overall we found the contrasts of the sublime and the common place were a pretty striking marker of our experience.”

Discovery of plastic rubbish at the bottom of the 2,125m canyon underpins the reach of human plastic waste. The samples will be analysed to see if the corals are feeding on the microplastics.