科學家們在北極發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的微塑料

科學家們在北極發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的微塑料

Scientists say they’ve found an abundance of tiny plastic particles in Arctic snow, indicating that so-called microplastics are being sucked into the atmosphere and carried long distances to some of the remotest corners of the planet.

科學家表示，他們在北極雪中發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的塑料微粒，這表明所謂的塑料微粒正被吸入大氣，并被帶到地球上一些最偏遠的角落。

The researchers examined snow collected from sites in the Arctic, northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps and the North Sea island of Heligoland with a process specially designed to analyze their samples in a lab.

研究人員利用專門設(shè)計的程序，在實驗室中分析了從北極、德國北部、巴伐利亞和瑞士阿爾卑斯山以及北海的海利哥蘭島收集的雪樣本。

AP

“While we did expect to find microplastics, the enormous concentrations surprised us,” Melanie Bergmann, a researcher at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, said.

德國布萊梅港阿爾弗雷德韋格納研究所的研究員梅蘭妮·伯格曼說：“雖然我們確實期望能找到微塑性塑料，但其濃度之高卻讓我們吃驚。”

Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)周三發(fā)表在《科學進展》雜志上。

Previous studies have found microplastics — which are created when man-made materials break apart and defined as pieces smaller than 5 millimeters — in the air of Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.

此前的研究已經(jīng)在巴黎、德黑蘭和中國東莞的空氣中發(fā)現(xiàn)了微塑料。微塑料是在人造材料破裂時產(chǎn)生的，被定義為小于5毫米的碎片。

The research demonstrated the fragments may become airborne in a way similar to dust, pollen and fine particulate matter from vehicle exhausts.

研究表明，這些碎片可能以類似于汽車尾氣中的灰塵、花粉和細小顆粒物的方式，在空氣中傳播。

While there’s growing concern about the environmental impact of microplastics, scientists have yet to determine what effect, if any, the minute particles have on humans or wildlife.

盡管人們越來越擔心微塑料對環(huán)境的影響，但科學家們還沒有確定這些微小顆粒對人類或野生動物有什么影響(如果有的話)。

Bergmann, who co-authored the study, said the highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the Bavarian Alps, with one sample having more than 150,000 particles per 1 liter (0.26 gallons.)

參與這項研究的伯格曼說，在巴伐利亞阿爾卑斯山，發(fā)現(xiàn)了最高濃度的微塑性塑料，其中一個樣品中，每升(0.26加侖)含有超過150000個微粒。

Although the Arctic samples were less contaminated, the third-highest concentration in the samples the researchers analyzed — 14,000 particles per liter — came from an ice floe in the Fram Strait off eastern Greenland, she said.

她說，盡管北極樣本的污染程度較低，但研究人員分析的樣本中濃度第三高的——每升14000粒——來自格陵蘭東部弗拉姆海峽的一塊浮冰。

On average, the researchers found 1,800 particles per liter in the samples taken from that region.

研究人員在從該地區(qū)采集的樣本中平均每升發(fā)現(xiàn)1800個微粒。

Martin Wagner, a biologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who wasn’t involved with the study, said the extremely high concentrations could be partly attributed to the methods the researchers used, which allowed them to identify microplastics as small as 11 micrometers, or 0.011 millimeters — less than the width of a human hair.

馬丁•瓦格納挪威科技大學的生物學家并未參與此項研究,說,極高的濃度可以部分歸因于研究人員使用的方法,它允許他們確定塑料微粒小11微米,或0.011毫米——小于人類頭發(fā)的寬度。

“This is significant because most studies so far looked at much larger microplastics,” he said. “Based on that, I would conclude that we very much underestimate the actual microplastics levels in the environment.”

他說:“這很重要，因為到目前為止，大多數(shù)研究都著眼于更大的微塑料。”“基于此，我的結(jié)論是，我們大大低估了環(huán)境中實際的微塑料含量。”

“Importantly, the study demonstrates that atmospheric transport is a relevant process moving microplastics around, potentially over long ranges and on a global scale,” Wagner added. “Also, snow may be an important reservoir storing microplastics and releasing it during snow melt, something that has not been looked at before.”

瓦格納補充說:“重要的是，這項研究表明，大氣運輸是一個相關(guān)的過程，它可以使微塑料在全球范圍內(nèi)長距離移動。”“此外，雪可能是儲存微塑料并在融雪過程中釋放它們的重要儲存器，這是以前從未研究過的。”

Bergmann said the microplastics detected in the study included varnish that may have been used to coat cars and ships, rubber found in tires and materials that could have originated in textiles or packaging.

伯格曼說，在這項研究中檢測到的微塑料，包括可能用于汽車和船舶涂層的清漆、輪胎中發(fā)現(xiàn)的橡膠，以及可能起源于紡織品或包裝材料的材料。

The authors suggested that the airborne distribution of microscopic plastic particles has so far been neglected as a source of contamination and should be monitored in standard air pollution monitoring schemes.

作者建議，空氣中微小塑料顆粒的分布作為污染源一直被忽視，應(yīng)該在標準的空氣污染監(jiān)測方案中進行監(jiān)測。

“We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe,” Bergmann said.

伯格曼說:“我們真的需要知道微塑料對人類有什么影響，尤其是當我們吸入的空氣中含有這種物質(zhì)的情況下。”