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Atmospheric microplastic emissions from land and ocean
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Researchers compiled global data on airborne microplastics and found that fewer particles enter the atmosphere than previously estimated, with land-based sources producing far more particles by number than ocean sources. Concentrations over land were 27 times higher than over the ocean. This study helps clarify how much microplastic people breathe in and shows that urban and land-based environments are the primary sources of airborne microplastic exposure.
Microplastics (MPs) are global pollutants, yet their atmospheric distribution is poorly understood. Although atmospheric MP measurements have become more abundant, estimates of emissions into the atmosphere vary by orders of magnitude. Here we compile a global atmospheric MPs dataset and compare it with size-aligned MP model simulations. Our model simulations show two to four orders of magnitude overestimation of the measured global median atmospheric MP concentrations. Measured median concentrations over the ocean are 27 times lower than over the land (0.003 and 0.08 particles m, respectively). Applying a simple scaling method, we estimate that oceanic emissions are lower in number than land-based emissions. The total global land-based and oceanic emissions are 6.1 × 10 (1.3 × 10 to 1.1 × 10) particles year and 2.6 × 10 (2.7 × 10 to 5.0 × 10) particles year, respectively. Our results indicate that fewer MP particles are emitted into the atmosphere than previously thought. Land sources dominate the number but not the mass emissions, indicating that MPs emission size distributions should be investigated further.
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This study used atmospheric modeling to estimate the global distribution of airborne microplastics, finding that land-based sources like roads, agriculture, and cities contribute far more to atmospheric microplastics than ocean emissions. The model, validated against real-world observations, suggests that ocean contributions are about 10,000 times lower than previously estimated. Understanding where airborne microplastics come from is important because inhalation is a major route of human exposure.
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