Abstract
Abstract. Plastics have been found in several compartments in Antarctica. However, there is currently no evidence of their presence on Antarctic glaciers. Our pilot study investigated plastic occurrence on two ice surfaces (one area around Uruguay Lake and another one around Ionosferico Lake) that constitute part of the ablation zone of Collins Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica). Our results showed that expanded polystyrene (EPS) was ubiquitous, ranging from 0.17 to 0.33 items m−2, whereas polyester was found only on the ice surface around Uruguay Lake (0.25 items m−2). Furthermore, we evaluated the daily changes in the presence of plastics in these areas in the absence of rainfall to clarify the role of the wind in their transport. We registered an atmospheric dry deposition rate between 0.08 items m−2 d−1 on the ice surface around Uruguay Lake and 0.17 items m−2 d−1 on the ice surface around Ionosferico Lake. Our pilot study is the first report of plastic pollution presence on an Antarctic glacier, possibly originated from local current and past activities and likely deposited by wind transport.
Highlights
The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system that consists of areas in which the temperatures are below 0 ◦C for at least part of the year (NOAA, 2019)
Our pilot study investigated plastic occurrence on two ice surfaces that constitute part of the ablation zone of Collins Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica)
13 mesoplastic items and 3 MP items were found on the ice around Uruguay Lake and 12 MeP items and 1 MP item on the ice around Ionosferico Lake (Fig. 2b)
Summary
The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system that consists of areas in which the temperatures are below 0 ◦C for at least part of the year (NOAA, 2019). The Antarctic cryosphere represents the majority of the world’s fresh water, representing the largest freshwater ecosystem on the planet (Shepherd et al, 2018). Especially microplastics (plastic items
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