Scientists say microplastic pollution, found for the first time in fresh Antarctic snow, is potentially harmful.
Scientists have for the first time found microplastics in freshly fallen Antarctic snow.
Microplastics stem from the erosion of plastic materials and are smaller than a grain of rice - sometimes even invisible to the naked eye.They identified 13 different types of plastics and the most common was polyethylene terephthalate , mostly used in soft-drink bottles and clothing. This was found in 79% of the samples."The most likely source of these airborne microplastics is local scientific research stations," researcher Alex Aves wrote in the journal, Cryosphere.
In 2020, researchers found microplastics near the summit of Mount Everest. They have also been found in deep oceans."Microplastics can have harmful substances stuck on to their surfaces such as heavy metals, algae," says Laura Revell, associate professor at Canterbury University, who was also involved in the research.
Clean snowpacks, icefields and glaciers can reflect much of the sunlight, but other polluting particles such as black carbon have also been found on icefields and glaciers of the Himalayas - and scientists say they accelerate the melting there.
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