Antarctica has become the latest region where evidence of the global spread of plastic pollution has been discovered, with scientists finding microplastics in the snow near deep field camps. Although plastic contamination has been known to affect many environments, this marks the first discovery of such tiny plastic particles in such isolated areas, underscoring the widespread nature of the issue, reported the British Antarctic Survey.
Researchers made the discovery during a study conducted at field camps near the Union and Schanz Glaciers, close to the Ellsworth Mountains, and at the South Pole, home to a US research station. The study marked the first use of an advanced technique to detect microplastics as tiny as 11 micrometres – roughly the size of a red blood cell – in Antarctica’s snow.
The team was surprised by the findings, which revealed microplastic concentrations between 73 and 3,099 particles per litre of snow. Most of the particles (95%) were smaller than 50 micrometres – about the size of human cells – indicating that previous research might have underestimated microplastic pollution in the region, likely due to less sensitive detection methods.
Earlier methods relied on manually extracting particles and fibres from samples for lab analysis. In contrast, the newer technique melts snow through filter paper and scans it at high resolution using infrared spectroscopy, enabling the detection of plastics as small as 11 micrometres.
Scientists identified several common plastics, including polyamide (used in textiles), polyethylene terephthalate (found in bottles), polyethylene, and synthetic rubber, at the three research sites where the study was carried out. Polyamide made up more than half of the microplastics detected and was present in every sample from the field camps, but it was notably absent from samples taken from a remote control site. This finding suggests that local sources of plastic pollution, such as outdoor clothing or ropes and flags used to mark safe routes, are contributing to contamination near the camps.
The full impact of microplastics in this pristine, frozen environment remains unclear. However, they have already been found in various species, including penguins, seals, and fish.
This research underscores the troubling reality that even the most remote and pristine regions of the planet are affected by human activity. The discovery of microplastics in Antarctic snow highlights the need to study such isolated environments to track the spread of plastic pollution globally in order to understand its long-term environmental impacts.
