Scientists say they have found an abundance of tiny plastic particles in Arctic snow, indicating that microplastics are being sucked into the atmosphere and carried over long distances.
The researchers examined snow collected from sites in the Arctic, northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.
While there is growing concern about the environmental impact of microplastics, scientists have yet to determine what effect the minute particles have on humans or wildlife.
Dr Bergmann said the highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the Bavarian Alps, with one sample having more than 150,000 particles per litre of melted snow.
Dr Martin Wagner, a biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said the extremely high concentrations could be partly attributed to the methods the researchers used, which let them identify microplastics as tiny as 11 micrometres, or 0.011mm – less than the width of a human hair.
Dr Wagner said that this is significant because most studies so far have looked at much larger microplastics.
More importantly, the study demonstrates that atmospheric transport is a relevant process moving microplastics potentially over long ranges and on a global scale, he added.
In addition, snow may store microplastics and release it during snow melt, something that has not been looked at before.
The study suggested that the airborne distribution of microplastics should be accounted for in standard air pollution monitoring schemes.
In a separate study, a US-led team of researchers also found plastic in ice cores drilled in the Arctic during an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage.
The team drew 18 ice cores of up to 2m long from four locations, and saw visible plastic beads and filaments.
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Source: The Straits Times, 16 August 2019