MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The Russian Academy of Sciences' Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 expedition found microplastics in the snow in the tundra's remote part. However, venison is the purest type of meat, unlike other types of meat or fish, the expedition's scientific leader Boris Kochurov told TASS.
"The other day, we have completed an unprecedented autonomous route on the Ursa wheeled all-terrain vehicle," he said. "The expedition's chief pilot, Vladimir Dmitriev, has sampled snow in the Taz and Tukhard tundra and on the left bank of the Yenisei River. The first results show that microplastics spread in the atmosphere over such long distances that it can fall with snow even that far beyond the Arctic Circle."
At the same time, venison beyond the Arctic Circle is the most microplastics-free meat. Anyway, it contains less microplastics than any meat from more southern regions and than marine fish from anywhere in the world, the scientist added. The rate of the Russian Arctic's contamination with microplastics will be low in the near century, he said.
The expedition is engaged in a comparative study of microplastics concentrations in the snow cover in different territories of the North. Experts have studied snow on the Solovki Islands, and have sampled snow in the tundra and Arctic deserts that are most remote from the civilization.
About expedition
Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 is the biggest continental high-latitude scientific expedition in the history of the North's studies in terms of the number of participants. It will have 77 expedition teams. The 12,000-kilometer route has been structured to meet the objectives, set by the Russian Academy of Sciences' research centers, and in accordance with due studies under university grants. Over a year-long term, 700 participants from the Academy's more than 20 research centers and from federal universities, as well as the Russian Geographical Society's volunteers, will conduct 200 studies. One of the tasks the expedition is facing is to research and preserve the North's rare languages. TASS is the expedition's general information partner.