First evidence of microplastic deposition in snow from Turkey
Abstract
Microplastic pollution in snow was investigated in top of the Amanos Mountain in Hatay region, southern Turkey. Snow samples were collected from four stations located in different heights and fronts of the mountain. Abundance of microplastic ranged from 10.5 to 16 MP per liter and a total of 519 microplastic particles (MPs) were identified in snow samples. The majority of identified microplastic were fiber (>99%), black in color and 0.5 – 2.5 mm (62%) size class and polyester (35%). This is the first study examining the microplastic pollution in snow from Turkey. Local wind and trajectory analyses revealed that MPs appeared in the sampling region originated from closely located Amik Plain and/or were transported from remote areas with northwesterly and southerly airflows.
Keywords
Microplastics, Snow, Atmospheric transport, Amanos Mountain, Pollution
Thanks
We acknowledge the use of imagery from the NASA Worldview application (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov), part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
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