Not doubting the plastic they found was windblown, but I do wonder how much more is now there along the path they trekked through. Tiny particles sraped from their skis, shed from their clothing and gear...

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I mean there is microplastic in the rain everywhere in the world, so i have zero reasons to believe that there isnt any in snow.
Im surprised that this article makes this out as a crazy new finding when we have known for years.

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah if you read the full story, they were fully expecting to find it, they were just measuring how much.

[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

I think that they are likely already considering these you mention. You can get clothing and gear that aren't made of plastic, so maybe they are doing that - the methods described on their website specifically call out using leather gloves and taking wind direction into account.

https://missionspiritus.com/expeditions/antarctica/