Using a citizen science approach to assess nanoplastics pollution in remote high-altitude glaciers.

ABSTRACT: Nanoplastics are suspected to pollute every environment on Earth, including very remote areas reached via atmospheric 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"). Particles < 1 μm were analysed for common polymers (polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene and tire wear particles), revealing nanoplastic concentrations ranging 2-80 ng mL^- 1 at five of 14 sites. The dominant polymer types found in this study were tire wear, polystyrene and polyethylene particles (41%, 28% and 12%, respectively). Lagrangian dispersion mode

SUBMITTER: Jurkschat L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11729883 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature