Watch: World-Class Explorers Help Scientists Collect Elusive Data

When Abby Barrows, a marine research scientist, first discovered microscopic plastic debris in the water near her lab, it led her to wonder about the prevalence of these ‘microplastics’ in oceans and bodies of water around the world. To dig deeper, she partnered with Adventure Scientists, an organization that pairs scientists with outdoor explorers to collect data that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to collect. In the video, see how Barrows was able to obtain samples from the Antarctic and the middle of the Pacific, and how the results led her to describe microplastics as “one of the largest pollution problems that you’ve never seen.”

Adventure Scientists joined the Science Sandbox community of awardees in January 2017.