科学家们在北极发现了大量的微塑料

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.

科学家表示，他们在北极雪中发现了大量的塑料微粒，这表明所谓的塑料微粒正被吸入大气，并被带到地球上一些最偏远的角落。

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.

研究人员利用专门设计的程序，在实验室中分析了从北极、德国北部、巴伐利亚和瑞士阿尔卑斯山以及北海的海利哥兰岛收集的雪样本。

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.

德国布莱梅港阿尔弗雷德韦格纳研究所的研究员梅兰妮·伯格曼说：“虽然我们确实期望能找到微塑性塑料，但其浓度之高却让我们吃惊。”

Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

他们的发现周三发表在《科学进展》杂志上。

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.

此前的研究已经在巴黎、德黑兰和中国东莞的空气中发现了微塑料。微塑料是在人造材料破裂时产生的，被定义为小于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，这些碎片可能以类似于汽车尾气中的灰尘、花粉和细小颗粒物的方式，在空气中传播。

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.

尽管人们越来越担心微塑料对环境的影响，但科学家们还没有确定这些微小颗粒对人类或野生动物有什么影响(如果有的话)。

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.)

参与这项研究的伯格曼说，在巴伐利亚阿尔卑斯山，发现了最高浓度的微塑性塑料，其中一个样品中，每升(0.26加仑)含有超过150000个微粒。

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.

她说，尽管北极样本的污染程度较低，但研究人员分析的样本中浓度第三高的——每升14000粒——来自格陵兰东部弗拉姆海峡的一块浮冰。

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

研究人员在从该地区采集的样本中平均每升发现1800个微粒。

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.

马丁•瓦格纳挪威科技大学的生物学家并未参与此项研究,说,极高的浓度可以部分归因于研究人员使用的方法,它允许他们确定塑料微粒小11微米,或0.011毫米——小于人类头发的宽度。

“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.”

他说:“这很重要，因为到目前为止，大多数研究都着眼于更大的微塑料。”“基于此，我的结论是，我们大大低估了环境中实际的微塑料含量。”

“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.”

瓦格纳补充说:“重要的是，这项研究表明，大气运输是一个相关的过程，它可以使微塑料在全球范围内长距离移动。”“此外，雪可能是储存微塑料并在融雪过程中释放它们的重要储存器，这是以前从未研究过的。”

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.

伯格曼说，在这项研究中检测到的微塑料，包括可能用于汽车和船舶涂层的清漆、轮胎中发现的橡胶，以及可能起源于纺织品或包装材料的材料。

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.

作者建议，空气中微小塑料颗粒的分布作为污染源一直被忽视，应该在标准的空气污染监测方案中进行监测。

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

伯格曼说:“我们真的需要知道微塑料对人类有什么影响，尤其是当我们吸入的空气中含有这种物质的情况下。”