© ZAMG/Christian Schober
Measurements made at the Sonnenblick Observatory in Austria, at an altitude of 3106 meters, show that approximately 42 kilos of nanoplastics fall there per year and per square kilometer. Some of these particles have traveled 2000 kilometers.
For this study, the researcher of the Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) Dominik Brunner, together with colleagues from the University of Utrecht (NL) and the Austrian Meteorological and Geophysical Service, examined the amount of nanoplastics transported by the atmosphere to our regions. According to these estimates, up to 3,000 tonnes cover Switzerland each year.
Scientists studied a small area at an altitude of 3106 meters on top of the Hoher Sonnenblick mountain in Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria. An observatory of the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics has been installed there since 1886, Empa said in a statement on Tuesday.
Every day, and regardless of weather conditions, scientists removed some of the top layer of snow around a marker at 08:00 a.m. The origin of nanoplastics has been traced using European wind and weather data.
like a gas
About 30% of the nanoplastics found at the top of the mountain come from within a radius of 200 kilometers, mainly from cities. However, it seems that plastics from oceans around the world are also getting into the air through wave spray. About 10% of the particles were carried up the mountain by the wind for more than 2000 kilometers – some of which came from the Atlantic.
These nanoplastics result from the abrasion of waste which changes from the state of macroparticles to that of microparticles and then to nanoparticles. The latter are so light that their movement in the air can be compared to that of a gas, notes the Empa.
Dominik Brunner and his colleagues have developed a chemical method that determines the contamination of samples using a mass spectrometer. This study is still uncharted scientific territory and these results are the most accurate record ever made of air pollution by nanoplastics, emphasizes Empa.
New measures planned
Asked by Keystone-ATS, Dominik Brunner specifies that this work needs to be confirmed and deepened: 42 kilos of nanoplastics per square kilometer per year may seem high for an alpine summit, but the range goes from 17 to 74 kilos, says the specialist . New measures are already planned.
While the data on microplastics is always more abundant, that on nanoplastics is still extremely incomplete, according to the authors. It is estimated that more than 8300 million tons of plastic have been produced worldwide to date, of which approximately 60% is waste today. This work is published in the journal Environmental Pollution.