--- title: Arctic Pollution Accumulates Despite Sparse Population description: The waters of Arctic have become polluted with hundreds of thousands of plastic pieces per square kilometer. canonical: https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T20:21:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T09:07:31.000Z article:section: Science og:title: How Trash Polluted the Arctic Even Though Few People Live There og:description: It is polluted with hundreds of thousands of plastic pieces per square kilometer. og:url: https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5362607646db38e7/6988c3d297cdff6a086b05c2/arctic-ocean-garbage-norway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: arctic-ocean-garbage-norway og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Trash Polluted the Arctic Even Though Few People Live There twitter:description: It is polluted with hundreds of thousands of plastic pieces per square kilometer. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5362607646db38e7/6988c3d297cdff6a086b05c2/arctic-ocean-garbage-norway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Trash Polluted the Arctic Even Though Few People Live There  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:07 AM UTCPublished: Apr 20, 2017 8:21 PM UTC  Buoys and garbage litter a beach along the coast of Svalbard, Norway. Svalbard does not have trees and the logs that have washed up on the beach are from neighboring Russia. Buoys and garbage litter a beach along the coast of Svalbard, Norway. Svalbard does not have trees and the logs that have washed up on the beach are from neighboring Russia.Steven Kazlowski—Getty Images/Science Faction  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:07 AM UTCPublished: Apr 20, 2017 8:21 PM UTC The waters of [Arctic](http://time.com/arctic-ice/) are about as remote as any place on the planet, yet the region has become polluted with signs of far-off human civilization in the form of hundreds of thousands of plastic pieces per square kilometer. A new [study](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/4/e1600582) in the journal _Science Advances_ explains the odd phenomenon as the result of ocean circulation patterns that move plastic debris from the North Atlantic Ocean to Greenland and the Barents seas, a dead end. Researchers collected and tested samples in the region to confirm that the debris had traveled vast distances from northwest Europe and the east coast of the U.S. through the water to reach the Arctic. Some may have also come from ships traveling through local waters. The findings serve as a reminder that debris pollution should be stopped at its origin given the unpredictable nature of where it might end up, researchers say. The debris could affect the food system of local species, a topic that remains the subject of research. And the problem will likely only grow worse as man-made global warming [continues to melt Arctic ice](http://time.com/3965996/arctic-sea-ice-melting/) allowing for material to spread across wider territory, researchers say. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/"},"headline":"How Trash Polluted the Arctic Even Though Few People Live There","datePublished":"2017-04-20T20:21:56.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T09:07:31.000Z","description":"Researchers say problem could get worse as Arctic ice continues to melt","url":"https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/","keywords":["Environment","climate change","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5362607646db38e7/6988c3d297cdff6a086b05c2/arctic-ocean-garbage-norway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5362607646db38e7/6988c3d297cdff6a086b05c2/arctic-ocean-garbage-norway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"arctic-ocean-garbage-norway","caption":"arctic-ocean-garbage-norway","creditText":"Steven Kazlowski—Getty Images/Science Faction","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4749067/arctic-trash-pollution/","name":"How Trash Polluted the Arctic Even Though Few People Live There"}}]}] ```