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Microplastic Entrainment in Hail: Uncovering New Pathways for Atmospheric Pollution
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Researchers examined 21 hailstones from two Texas storms and found microplastic particles in every single one, totaling 283 particles across 58 types of plastic. Wind pattern analysis showed air flowing into the storms had passed over manufacturing areas and cities, suggesting these were sources of the plastic pollution captured in the hail.
Abstract Microplastics are ubiquitous atmospheric particulate pollutants, yet the inflow wind distribution, transport and accretion on hailstones within convective storm systems remain poorly understood. This study provides comprehensive analysis of microplastics preserved in hailstones supercell storms in Texas: Del Rio (11 April 2020) and Uvalde (28 April 2021). Twenty-one hailstones were chosen, melted, filtered, and retained particles analyzed using FTIR microscopy for polymer and morphological characterization. Microplastics were detected in every hailstone (N = 283 particles), confirming ubiquity in the lower troposphere. Fragments dominant morphology (69.4%), fibers (23.6%), films (6.6%), and spheres (0.4%). Fifty-eight distinct polymer species identified, polycarbonate (n = 87), epoxy (n = 23), and polybutadiene (n = 14) the most abundant chemical classes. Kruskal–Wallis H test (p = 0.0176) revealed significant heterogeneity among hailstones, implying emission sources and transport histories. HYSPLIT back-trajectory and land-use revealed low-level inflow air masses traversed manufacturing zones along the U.S. Mexico border and urban population contributing to microplastic loading within the storm. Findings demonstrate that storms effectively scavenge and archive airborne microplastics, offering an approach for assessing inflow air mass transport and emission patterns. Hailstones represent underutilized archive for evaluating emission sources, inflow air mass transport, and monitoring microplastic pollution.
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Supplemental Information: Microplastic Entrainment in Hail: Uncovering New Pathways for Atmospheric Pollution
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers analyzed microplastics preserved inside 21 hailstones from two Texas supercell storms, finding 283 particles in every stone sampled—dominated by fragments and 58 distinct polymer types—and used HYSPLIT back-trajectories to trace contamination to manufacturing zones and urban centers swept up in storm inflow.
Supplemental Information: Microplastic Entrainment in Hail: Uncovering New Pathways for Atmospheric Pollution
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers analyzed microplastics preserved inside 21 hailstones from two Texas supercell storms, detecting 283 particles representing 58 polymer types in every sample and using HYSPLIT back-trajectory modeling to trace contaminated air masses to manufacturing zones and urban centers along the U.S.–Mexico border, establishing hailstones as novel archives of atmospheric microplastic loading.
Microplastics in Large Hailstones from Two Central Texas Supercell Thunderstorms
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Microplastics were detected in 65 large hailstones collected from two supercell thunderstorms in Texas, suggesting that atmospheric microplastics become incorporated into precipitation during storm formation and growth. This finding demonstrates that even energetic weather systems carry microplastic signatures, confirming widespread atmospheric transport as a mechanism for depositing plastic pollution in remote and pristine environments.
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Researchers measured tiny plastic particles falling from the air in three Mexican cities, finding mostly fibers and small fragments. Rainfall showed the strongest link to higher microplastic levels, while wind speed had a moderate connection in two cities and temperature showed little relationship.
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