Researchers collected samples of snow in flasks Credit: ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT / MINE TEKMAN

The researchers collected samples of snow in flasksEven in the Arctic, microscopic particles of plastic are falling out of the sky with snow, a study has found.

The scientists said they were shocked by the sheer number of particles they found: more than 10,000 of them per litre in the Arctic.

It means that even there, people are likely to be breathing in microplastics from the air – though the health implications remain unclear.

The region is often seen as one of the world’s last pristine environments.

A German-Swiss team of researchers has published the work in the journal Science Advances.

The scientists also found rubber particles and fibres in the snow.

How did the researchers carry out the study?

Researchers collected snow samples from the Svalbard islands using a low-tech method – a dessert spoon and a flask.

In the laboratory at Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven they discovered far more contaminating particles than they’d expected.

Many were so small that it was hard to ascertain where they had come from.

The majority appeared to […]