Table 1. Range of floating plastic concentrations in the Arctic compared to accumulation and nonaccumulation zones in tropical and temperate oceans.

The minimum, median, and maximum concentrations in number and weight are shown separately for the Greenland and Barents seas (the Arctic sector from 35°W to 74°E longitude) and the rest of the Arctic Ocean. Plastic concentrations in the inner accumulation zone of the SOGs and tropical/temperate nonaccumualation zones were obtained from a previous global report (2). The total number of samples for each zone (n) is also shown.

	×103 items·km−2			g·km−2			n
	Min	Median	Max	Min	Median	Max
Greenland and Barents seas	0	6.3 × 101	3.2 × 102	0	6.5 × 101	4.6 × 102	17
Rest of the Arctic Ocean	0	0	2.7 × 101	0	0	5.1 × 101	21
Subtropical accumulation zones	0	4.4 × 101	1.3 × 103	0	1.8 × 102	6.8 × 103	275
Tropical/temperate nonaccumulation zones	0	1.9 × 100	1.9 × 102	0	3.6 × 100	3.4 × 102	629