SUMMIT MONT BLANC
Searching for microplastics on the slopes of Mont-Blanc (Bossons glacier and summit)
HISTORICAL
The 03 August 1787, DeSaussure, physicist, Geneva geologist and naturalist, reached the summit of Mont Blanc.
During this ascent, it calculates the altitude of the summit and also performs many other measurements, including that of the boiling point of water at altitude.
More 200 years, The Mont Blanc, iconic peak, continues to arouse the interest of the scientific community. The Clean Mont-Blanc project, initiated in 2021, is inspired by the exploits of these pioneers and seeks, through a microplastic sampling campaign on this massif, determine the impact of human activities on the environment.
Atmospherically deposited microplastics are ubiquitous in our environment.
But what about on the roof of Europe in the Mont-Blanc massif? ? The studies carried out as part of our projects on these emblematic sites, away from sources of pollution, allow the scientific community to better understand the mechanisms of transfer and accumulation of pollutants in ecosystems.
The Mont-Blanc massif, with its 28 peaks over 4000 m, is indeed a privileged site for the study of plastic pollution carried by the atmosphere.
The objective of the project is to better understand the intensity of the atmospheric transfer of microplastics on the Mont-Blanc massif., more particularly at the Bossons glacier.
Different samples will be taken between the Bossons glacier and the summit of Mont-Blanc.
The physical characteristic of this glacier (28° average slope, elevation of 1 420 at 4 807 m on 7.3 km) constitutes an ideal field of study for determining a vertical gradient of the concentrations present on the surface of the snowpack.
