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The Importance of Tire Wear Particles for Atmospheric Ice Nucleation
Summary
Every time you drive, your tires shed tiny plastic particles into the air—and this study found these particles are surprisingly good at helping clouds form ice, far more so than other types of microplastic pollution. This matters because as car ownership grows worldwide, these tire particles could increasingly influence weather and climate patterns, on top of already being a pollutant we breathe in.
Abstract Tire wear particles (TWPs) are prevalent microplastic particles in the atmosphere and pose significant environmental and health risks to humans. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation activity (INA) of TWPs under mixed‐phase cloud conditions (∼−20.0°C < T < −5.0°C) and its changes caused by different environmental exposures, including UV and high temperatures (75.0°C). Ice‐active sites per mass of TWPs are about one to two orders of magnitude higher than those of other microplastics. Environmental exposure moderately reduces TWPs' INA, attributed to modifications in surface ice‐nucleation sites, such as decreases in SiO 2 signals. As the most abundant microplastics in the atmosphere, TWPs significantly contribute to global ice‐nucleating particles (INPs), particularly in North America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Given that TWP emissions are expected to increase with the predicted rise in vehicle numbers, addressing TWPs' impacts on cloud microphysical properties becomes increasingly imperative.