Scientists say they've found an abundance of tiny plastic particles in Arctic snow, indicating that so-called microplastics are being sucked into the atmosphere and carried to some of the most remote corners of the planet.

Key points: An "enormous concentration" of microplastics was found in samples taken from snow in the Arctic, Germany and elsewhere

An "enormous concentration" of microplastics was found in samples taken from snow in the Arctic, Germany and elsewhere The highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the Bavarian Alps

The highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the Bavarian Alps In a separate study, plastic samples were found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic

The researchers examined snow collected from sites in the Arctic, northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps and the North Sea island of Heligoland with a process specially designed to analyse their samples in a lab.

"While we did expect to find microplastics, the enormous concentrations surprised us," said Melanie Bergmann, a researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

Their findings were published on Wednesday (local time) in the journal Science Advances.

Previous studies have found microplastics — created when man-made materials break apart and defined as pieces smaller than five millimetres — in the air of Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.

The research demonstrated the fragments may become airborne in a way similar to dust, pollen and fine particulate matter from vehicle exhausts.

While there is growing concern about the environmental impact of microplastics, scientists have yet to determine what effect, if any, the minute particles have on humans or wildlife.

Ms Bergmann, who co-authored the study, said the highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the Bavarian Alps, with one sample having more than 150,000 particles per litre.

Although the Arctic samples were less contaminated, the third-highest concentration in the samples the researchers analysed — 14,000 particles per litre — came from an ice floe in the Fram Strait off eastern Greenland, she said.

On average, the researchers found 1,800 particles per litre in the samples taken from that region.

Plastics discovered in ice cores in the Arctic

In a separate study led by a team of US scientists, tiny pieces of plastic were found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic.

The researchers used a helicopter to land on ice floes and retrieve the samples during an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage, the hazardous route linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

"We had spent weeks looking out at what looks so much like pristine white sea ice floating out on the ocean," said Jacob Strock, a graduate student researcher at the University of Rhode Island, who conducted an initial onboard analysis of the cores.

"When we look at it up close … we see that it's all very, very visibly contaminated when you look at it with the right tools.

"It felt a little bit like a punch in the gut."

Mr Strock and his colleagues found the material trapped in ice taken from Lancaster Sound, an isolated stretch of water in the Canadian Arctic, which they had assumed might be relatively sheltered from drifting plastic pollution.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 33 seconds 33 s Researchers found micro-plastics trapped in ice taken from Lancaster Sound.

The team drew 18 ice cores of up to 2 metres long from four locations and saw visible plastic beads and filaments of various shapes and sizes.

"The plastic just jumped out in both its abundance and its scale," said Brice Loose, an oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island and chief scientist of the expedition, known as the Northwest Passage Project.

The scientists' dismay is reminiscent of the consternation felt by explorers who found plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, during submarine dives earlier this year.

The microplastics were discovered in ice cores. ( Northwest Passage Project via Reuters )

AP/Reuters