Microplastics in the Alpine watercycle – A combination of methods to cover the widest possible size range

Plastic waste as a permanent pollutant in the environment is of increasing concern due to its largely unknown long-term effects on biota. The occurrence in rivers, has, compared to research in the oceans, only become the focus of scientific investigations in the last few years. The Austrian Alps in particular are largely unexplored in this respect. Therefore, the Alplast project addresses microplastic transport from the glaciers at the summit over steep mountain torrents to the lowland rivers and aims in conducting a first inventory of the alpine area. Specifically, analyses of microplastic occurrences are being carried out from the Sonnblick glacier via the Rauriser Ache, the Salzach, the Inn and the Danube and are intended to expand the understanding of processes with regard to the behaviour of microplastics in the water cycle from the glacier to the valley. The influence of snowmelt as well as the temporal development, which can be determined from ice cores, are of great interest. In addition, questions regarding the origin and distribution of plastic in flowing waters as well as the possible biological degradation by microorganisms will be clarified.

Since the sampling areas cover entire catchments at different altitudes, different methodologies and devices are used. For the studies on the glaciers, the snow cover as well as ice cores are sampled and analysed. In the rivers a multi-point method is used due to the spatial distribution of plastic particles in the river cross-section. But the net samples at different depths are combined with isokinetic pump sampling in order to detect the widest possible size range. Isokinetically taken pump samples have the great advantage that a weighting process takes place directly during sampling. This means that samples can be taken in different areas (high and low flow velocities) of the cross-section (together with the nets) and then a composite sample can be analysed for the profile. Particle counts, classification and the measurement of concentrations and loads are then used to determine quantities and the most common types of plastics in the alpine environment. The measuring stations were selected in such a way that more and more potential microplastic sources are added in the course of the catchment in order to achieve the best possible process understanding regarding the origin and fate of the plastic waste.