Date (Creation)

2025-01-13

Date (Revision)

2025-01-13

Date (Publication)

2025-01-13

Date (released)

2025-01-13

Edition

1.0

Unique resource identifier

https://doi.org/10.5285/ac6ade29-2815-4938-a93a-d84f0d322bd6

Codespace

doi

Unique resource identifier

GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01975

Codespace

https://data.bas.ac.uk/

Other citation details

Please cite this item as: Jones-Williams, K., Rowlands, E., Primpke, S., Galloway, T., Cole, M., Waluda, C., & Manno, C. (2025). Microplastic abundance in Antarctic Snow samples (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/ac6ade29-2815-4938-a93a-d84f0d322bd6

Credit

No credit.

Status

Completed

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey	Jones-Williams, Kirstie		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Rowlands, Emily		Author
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Polar- und Meeresforschung	Primpke, Sebastian		Author
University of Exeter	Galloway, Tamara		Author
University of Exeter	Cole, Matthew		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Waluda, Claire		Author
British Antarctic Survey	Manno, Clara		Author
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		PDCServiceDesk@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed

Maintenance note

Completed

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Snow
• EARTH SCIENCE > Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glaciers
• EARTH SCIENCE > Hydrosphere > Snow/Ice

Theme

• Antarctica

• glacier

• microplastics

• pollution

• snow

Place

• Union Glacier Antarctica

• Schanz Glacier Antarctica

• South Pole Antarctica

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

• Atmospheric conditions
• Elevation
• Hydrography

Access constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

no limitations to public access

Access constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

no limitations

Use constraints

License

Other constraints

Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

No restrictions apply

Unique resource identifier

url

Codespace

url

Association Type

Cross reference

Spatial representation type

Text, table

Language

English

Character set

UTF8

Topic category

• Environment

Begin date

2019-12-01

End date

2019-12-30

Supplemental Information

It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.

Title

European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Geodetic Parameter Registry

Date (Publication)

2008-11-12

Cited responsible party

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
European Petroleum Survey Group		EPSGadministrator@iogp.org	Publisher

Unique resource identifier

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031

Version

6.18.3

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Statement

Methodology:

Snow samples were taken in December 2019 from three locations in Antarctica (Union Glacier, Schanz Glacier, and the South Pole). Union Glacier (-79.766667 S, -83.4 W) is situated at the northern edge of the Western Antarctic Ice sheet, the glacier extends 86km up to the grounding line of the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf. Sitting approximately 550 m above and draining into Union Glacier 30 km away is the similarly u-shaped Schanz Glacier. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Base and field camp is 1140 km away from Union Glacier. These three sites represent different remote camps, varying in size and accessibility. Twelve sites were selected for analysis: five at Union Glacier (UG1-UG5, close to the downwind of the camp), four at Schanz Glacier (SG1-SG4, 2 km area between the tracks and the retreat), and three at the South Pole (SP1-SP3), including one at the runway (SP3) and two at 250 m intervals further from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Base. A sample was taken at the control site chosen based on logistics as the most remote location accessible, atop an exposed ridge between the Schanz and Driscoll Glacier more than 100 m above Schanz Glacier and unlikely to be impacted by the local camp.

A shallow pit was dug using a shovel to 20-40 cm depth, and the person collecting the sample was positioned downwind of the pit. Sampling was downwind of remote camps in an attempt to quantify their contribution to the microplastic footprint in the snow. The farthest wall of each pit was then ''cleaned'' of any potential contamination from the shovel by scraping approximately 5-10cm of snow from the wall with a stainless-steel cup. The cup was acid-cleaned between each sample site. Snow samples were taken at between 20-40 cm depth, to include the variance of snow accumulation across all sites. Thus, this study assumes that sampling of this layer comprises the plastic legacy of the previous 1-2 years (Hoffmann et al., 2020; Lazzara et al., 2012).

A sample was taken by burrowing laterally into the side of the wall using the stainless-steel cup. The first ''scoop'' of each tunnel was discarded, with all subsequent collections with the cup decanted into an 800ml stainless steel tankard (ECOtanka), which remained closed when not used and placed upwind of the sampler when being used. Each container was filled, bumping the base of the tankard to collect as much as possible, with variation in snowmelt volume recorded. Each tankard was then sealed and returned to the field laboratory for filtering.

The funnel was flushed through with ''clean water'' after filtering. In place of deionised water at the camp, ''clean water'' was produced using the ''clean snow'' supply - an area of snow sectioned off, upwind of the camp, used for generating the cooking water and shower water supply at Union Glacier. This snow was collected and twice filtered through a 0.2 micrometer Isopore (polycarbonate) to remove any possible plastic contamination. Investigation under a stereomicroscope indicated no visible microplastic or other particulate, as expected when passing through a small pore-size filter. A sample of this ''clean snow'' was taken before filtering and processed as per other samples for microplastics analyses.

Identification of Microplastics using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry

Samples had to be removed from the silver filter and transferred onto Anodisc filters (Whatman). Three laboratory blanks were carried out to determine the possible introduction of contamination during this step and any sample loss. The transfer of samples onto new filters enabled the use of the focal plane array (FPA) and full analysis of the whole filter area using Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) in transmission mode. Initial observations using an Olympus Stereomicroscope indicated that particles were either less than 100µm or were MP fibres. We combine...(4)

Data collection:

All measurements were carried out using the Agilent 670 Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA), USA, with a cryogenically cooled mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector. The spectrometer was coupled to an Agilent 620 microscope with an automated XYZ-stage and 128 x 128 focal plane array (FPA) detector, cooled with liquid nitrogen. The FTIR system was continuously purged using a dry air generator (FGSR). The FTIR microscope was equipped with a 15 x IR objective lens and a 15-x visual objective lens. This stage held the sample in a bespoke filter holder enabling the transmission of infrared through the lower Cassegrain, the base of an Anodisc filter where the sample was held, and through the Barium fluoride slide of the same shape and diameter as the filter. This setup facilitated FTIR imaging of both fibres and particles (microplastics of all other morphologies) (Primpke et al., 2019, Roscher et al., 2021).

Filters were scanned in quarters, with each quarter measuring approximately 14mm x 14mm allow a small overlap between scans when stitching together the data. The FPA detector enabled each quarter to be scanned, acquiring a mosaic of spectra (Primpke et al.,2017, 2020a). This was calibrated with an XYZ stage allowing the exact coordinates at the end of the scan to be used to accurately identify the start of the next scanning area, covering the complete area of each filter (diameter of 25mm, area 625mm2). The collection of multiple mosaics meant each sample took approximately 13 scannable hours spread over 2.5 days.

Data quality:

Best practice anti-contamination measures were taken in each laboratory. As the field laboratory was set up for the field campaign, it was thoroughly cleaned, and air conditioning remained off for the campaign. Footfall within the laboratory was restricted to the researcher, and cotton laboratory coats were worn. All instruments and containers were acid-washed before first use and were covered with aluminium foil during processing. At the British Antarctic Survey Laboratory - Cambridge, aluminium foil was used during filtering, and glass lids were used during the drying process. A bespoke Perspex shield was fitted around the FTIR stage to prevent airborne contamination during infrared analysis. The laboratory was thoroughly cleaned, and surfaces were wiped down with an ethanol dilution between each sample processing and analysis. Procedural blanks were taken to measure the introduction of contamination at any of these stages and recovery tests, to measure the loss of sample during processing.

A contamination library was also built. For this, fibre samples were collected from the garments worn by each person in the field and the laboratory, with particles from additional possible sources of plastic pollution also collected from the field camp. These samples were analysed using attenuated total reflection using a mobile Agilent FTIR. Spectra were collected and measured against the existing spectral reference library using the siMPle software. Hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out according to Primpke et al. 2018 using the Hellinger Distance for the calculation of the resemblance matrix (Primer 6 and Permanova, Primer-E) was performed to identify the primary polymer composition of these samples by their similarity to existing database entries and inform, post-hoc, on possible sources of contamination.

Procedural blanks were run in triplicate. Two separate sets of blanks were carried out. The first type, the ''full procedural blank'', replicated the complete procedure from collection to analysis, as per all other snow samples. A separate ECOtanka was used to collect 250ml of 0.2 micrometer filtered ''clean water'' and was processed in the same manner, i.e., filtering onto a silver filter in the field laboratory and subsequently transferred onto an Anodisc filter for FTIR analysis. Each blank was carried out on the same day the samples were processed in the field laboratory (n=3). In addition, a secondary set of procedural blanks was taken to inform about contamination introduced during the transference step from silver filter to Anodisc. These blanks, ''laboratory blanks'', replicate the procedure carried out in the Cambridge Laboratory, using 200 ml of 0.2 micrometer filtered Milli-Q water, filtered onto a silver filter and subsequently removed using 50ml of Milli-Q water onto an Anodisc and 10ml of 30 percent Ethanol to help remove any residual filtrate.

To determine the final ''normalised concentration'' presented in the results, the concentration of each polymer type was averaged from the three ''full procedure'' blanks and subtracted from each raw sample concentration. The concentration recorded in the lab blank was used only to inform what proportion may have been introduced in the laboratory. Furthermore, the fraction likely introduced during field processing is determined by subtracting the ''lab result'' from the ''full result''.

Recovery tests were designed to determine whether there was any substantial material loss during the transference step from silver filter to Anodisc. These recovery tests were carried out in triplicate, using Nylon fibres stained with Nile Red and had a uniform diameter of 16 microns, and cut to a length of 250 microns. A fluorescent microscope was used to count fibres once dry. Following this, the sample was enclosed in its case. It was shaken to mimic the disturba...(7)

Metadata

File identifier

ac6ade29-2815-4938-a93a-d84f0d322bd6 XML

Metadata language

English

Character set

UTF8

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Hierarchy level name

dataset

Date stamp

2025-01-13

Metadata standard name

ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata

Metadata standard version

ISO 19115:2003(E)

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre		polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk	Point of contact