{"id":56654,"date":"2025-01-17T10:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T09:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/?p=56654"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T11:16:13","slug":"nanoplastics-found-in-remote-glaciers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/2025\/01\/nanoplastics-found-in-remote-glaciers\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanoplastics found in remote glaciers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a new study using a citizen science approach<\/a>, scientists have worked with trained mountaineers to sample surface snow in otherwise inaccessible areas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robin Milner (Technical Lead) and Richard Kay (Lead Climber and Second Medic) getting ready to sample at the top of the Otemma Glacier (3,000m) in Switzerland. Photo: Zoe Salt (Expedition Photographer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tire wear particles in the snow<\/h2>\n

Nanoplastics were found in 5 out of 14 high-altitude glacier sites, with concentrations ranging from 2 to 80 nanograms per milliliter snow. The most common kinds of nanoplastics detected were tire wear particles (41%), polystyrene (28%), and polyethylene (12%).<\/p>\n

Earlier studies<\/a> have also found evidence of microplastics in remote and high-altitude environments across the world. And where there are microplastics, there are bound to be nanoplastics as well.<\/p>\n

In addition, atmospheric transport is already known to bring microplastics to remote regions; this is likely to be even more significant for nanoplastics due to their smaller size and weight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robin Milner (Technical Lead) and Richard Kay (Lead Climber and Second Medic) taking a sample at the only viable spot on the Glacier de Pi\u00e8ce. Photo: Zoe Salt (Expedition Photographer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tracking backwards<\/h2>\n

One of the scientists working with atmospheric transport of microplastics is senior scientist Nikolaos Evangeliou at NILU.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo simulate how the nanoplastic particles traveled through the air to the sampling sites, we used a so-called Lagrangian dispersion model. Thus, we found that their primary sources were regions west of the Alps, including France, Spain, and Switzerland,\u201d Evangeliou says.<\/p>\n

Nanoplastics may be \u201ceverywhere\u201d<\/h2>\n

According to Evangeliou, finding nanoplastics in remote glaciers is not surprising.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur findings merely show that plastic pollution on a micro- and nano scale may be more widespread than earlier assumed. Due to their minuscule size, these particles have large potential to be transported through the atmosphere over long distances, contributing to global pollution,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Future studies will include more comprehensive sampling and analysis techniques to better understand the distribution and sources of nanoplastics.<\/p>\n

What also concerns scientists, is that the nanoparticles\u2019 presence in glaciers could have unknown effects on ecosystems, climate and human health, particularly as they can enter water sources and food chains.<\/p>\n

New research project on micro- and nanoplastics<\/h2>\n

The findings prompted the launch of the Global Atmospheric Plastics Survey (GAPS)<\/a>. This is a research project with the aim to build a definitive picture of the spread of micro- and nano-plastic pollution in the atmosphere around the world.<\/p>\n

The project is one of the largest mountaineering and scientific expeditions ever undertaken. 50 separate expedition teams will take samples from key high-altitude locations all over the world. Seven of the expeditions are already complete, with samples collected from teams in the Tian Shan mountains in central Asia, the Rwenzori mountains between Uganda and Congo, Himlung Himal in Nepal, and the South Pole.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Full team: Dr Al Gill (Expedition Leader), Robin Milner (Technical Lead), Tom Baldassari (Primary Medic), Richard Kay (Lead Climber and Secondary Medic), James Sisti (Expedition Artist). Photo: Zoe Salt (Expedition Photographer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a new study using a citizen science approach, scientists have worked with trained mountaineers to sample surface snow in otherwise inaccessible areas. Tire wear particles in the snow Nanoplastics were found in 5 out of 14 high-altitude glacier sites, with concentrations ranging from 2 to 80 nanograms per milliliter snow. The most common kinds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsarchive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56654"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56734,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56654\/revisions\/56734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}