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Microplastics in Hamburg's city air
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Researchers characterized airborne microplastic particles in Hamburg's urban air, measuring concentrations, polymer types, and size distributions to assess inhalation exposure. The study confirmed that urban air contains a diverse range of microplastic types, with fibers and fragments as the dominant morphotypes.
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find ecosystems that are free of plastic. Urban environments are especially prone for microplastic contamination of the atmosphere which consists a relevant source for human inhalation. The aim of this study is, on the one hand, to make a general statement about the microplastic pollution of Hamburg's urban air, and on the other hand, to compare individual districts and exposure scenarios (residential, traffic and public parks) with each other in daily course measurement over different times of the day. Therefore, Hamburg's urban air was investigated based on diurnal cycle measurements (2 h measurements over a period of 14 h) through active sampling of air volumes. To investigate the question of how high the microplastic contamination is for Hamburg's city residents, nine different locations in Hamburg were examined. To represent the spatial expansion of the city in the rehearsals, three differently localized districts were selected; Hamburg-Nord, Hamburg-Mitte and Hamburg-Altona. Each district was again divided into three categories to cover everyday life and thus, the potential locations of contamination of a resident there. The categories cover (i) residential areas in order to reflect the part in everyday life where the residents move around their house, (ii) roads with high traffic-volume to reflect the contamination during the commute to work and back and (iii) public parks frequented by residents for recreational purposes. Results and potential influencing factors for human inhalation will be presented and discussed. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/558536/document
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Microplastics in Hamburg's city air
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