Microplastics found in Antarctica

Q. Why is this in news?

A. Scientists have found microplastics — plastic pieces much smaller than a grain of rice — in freshly fallen Antarctic snow for the first time.

Q. What are Microplastics?

A.

• Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment.
• The name is used to differentiate them from “macroplastics” such as bottles and bags made of plastic.
• There is no universal agreement on the size of microplastics. It defines microplastic as less than 5mm in length.
• However, for the purposes of this study, since the authors were interested in measuring the quantities of plastic that can cross the membranes and diffuse into the body via the bloodstream.
• Hence they agreed on an upper limit on the size of the particles as 0.0007 millimetre.

Q. What are the Threats posed by Microplastics?
A. 

• Microplastics has the potential to influence the climate by accelerating melting of ice.
• They limit growth, reproduction, and general biological functions in organisms, as well as humans.

Q. What is Ross Ice Shelf?

A.

• Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica roughly the size of France.
• It is several hundred metres thick.
• The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 kilometres long, and between 15 and 50 metres (50 and 160 ft) high above the water surface.
• Ninety percent of the floating ice, however, is below the water surface.
• Most of Ross Ice Shelf is in the Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand.
• It floats in, and covers, a large southern portion of the Ross Sea and the entire Roosevelt Island located in the east of the Ross Sea.