On August 14, a polar research team in the United States released its research results. The team found a large number of micro plastics in the ice core drilled in the Arctic. The ice core samples were drilled from July 18 to August 4, 2019 on the ice floes in the northwest channel connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
On the same day, another study released by German and Swiss scientists on the 14th showed that after analyzing snow samples from the Arctic, Swiss Alps and Germany, it was found that the amount of micro plastics contained was much more than they expected. Among them, a snow sample in Bavaria, Germany has more than 150000 micro plastics per liter, the largest among all samples. Another snow sample from Svalbard, Norway, has 11100 micro plastics per liter.
As for the source of micro plastics, the research team said that micro plastics mainly arrive through long-distance drifting of sea water, or may be blown to the most remote areas of the world through the air and dumped on the ground when it snows.