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Using a citizen science approach to assess nanoplastics pollution in remote high-altitude glaciers
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Researchers combined high-sensitivity TD-PTR-MS (thermal desorption-proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry) with citizen science sampling by trained mountaineers to measure nanoplastic concentrations at 14 high-altitude glacier sites in the Alps, detecting nanoplastics at concentrations of 2-80 ng/mL at 5 of 14 sites. FLEXPART trajectory modelling identified probable emission sources lying largely to the west in France, Spain, and Switzerland, with tire wear particles, polystyrene, and polyethylene as the dominant polymer types.
Abstract Nanoplastics are suspected to pollute every environment on Earth and reach very remote areas, e.g. via airborne transport. We approached the challenge of measuring environmental nanoplastics by combining high-sensitivity TD-PTR-MS (thermal desorption-proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry) with trained mountaineers sampling high-altitude glaciers (“citizen science”). We analysed particles < 1 µm for common polymers (polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene and tire wear particles), revealing nanoplastic concentrations ranging from 2–80 ng mL− 1 at five of 14 sites. The major nanoplastic polymer types found in this study were tire wear, polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) particles (41%, 28% and 12%, respectively). FLEXPART modelling was used to reconstruct possible sources of micro- and nanoplastic emissions for those observations, appearing to lie largely to the west of the Alps, where France, Spain and Switzerland have the highest contributions.
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Using a citizen science approach to assess nanoplastics pollution in remote high-altitude glaciers
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Using trained mountaineers to collect glacier samples and a high-sensitivity detection method, researchers found nanoplastic pollution at concentrations of 2 to 80 nanograms per liter in remote high-altitude glaciers. The presence of common plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, and tire wear particles at these isolated locations confirms that nanoplastics travel through the atmosphere and contaminate even Earth's most remote environments.
Using a Citizen Science Approach to Assess Nanoplastics Pollution in Remote High-Altitude Glaciers
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Citizen scientists collected samples from remote high-altitude glaciers and researchers analyzed them for nanoplastics, finding nanoplastic particles even in these pristine environments and demonstrating that citizen science can extend the spatial reach of nanoplastic pollution monitoring.
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Researchers used high-resolution thermal desorption proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry as a novel method to detect and quantify nanoplastics in snow samples collected from high-altitude sites on the Haute Route mountaineering route between France and Switzerland. The method successfully identified nanoplastic signatures in remote glacial snow, confirming atmospheric transport of nanoplastics to high-elevation environments.
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Researchers measured nanoplastic concentrations in snow at a remote Alpine observatory over 3,100 meters above sea level, finding an average of 46.5 nanograms per milliliter of melted snow. The dominant plastic types detected were polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate, with air transport modeling tracing their origins to European urban areas. The study demonstrates that nanoplastics can travel long distances through the atmosphere and accumulate even in pristine high-altitude environments.
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