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Ocean emission of microplastic
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Researchers built a model showing that ocean waves and bursting bubbles can launch microplastics from seawater into the air, estimating that roughly 0.1 million metric tons of microplastic may be emitted from the ocean surface each year. These airborne microplastics can then be carried by wind over land, where they may be inhaled by people. The study reveals an important and previously underappreciated pathway by which ocean microplastic pollution becomes an air quality and human health concern.
Microplastics are globally ubiquitous in marine environments, and their concentration is expected to continue rising at significant rates as a result of human activity. They present a major ecological problem with well-documented environmental harm. Sea spray from bubble bursting can transport salt and biological material from the ocean into the atmosphere, and there is a need to quantify the amount of microplastic that can be emitted from the ocean by this mechanism. We present a mechanistic study of bursting bubbles transporting microplastics. We demonstrate and quantify that jet drops are efficient at emitting microplastics up to 280μm in diameter and are thus expected to dominate the emitted mass of microplastic. The results are integrated to provide a global microplastic emission model which depends on bubble scavenging and bursting physics; local wind and sea state; and oceanic microplastic concentration. We test multiple possible microplastic concentration maps to find annual emissions ranging from 0.02 to 7.4-with a best guess of 0.1-mega metric tons per year and demonstrate that while we significantly reduce the uncertainty associated with the bursting physics, the limited knowledge and measurements on the mass concentration and size distribution of microplastic at the ocean surface leaves large uncertainties on the amount of microplastic ejected.
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Researchers assessed whether the ocean can be a net source of atmospheric microplastics (rather than just a sink), finding evidence that bubble bursting and sea spray can eject plastic particles from ocean surface waters into the atmosphere.
Atmospheric microplastic emissions from land and ocean
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Researchers conducted lab experiments to measure how microplastics and nanoplastics in the ocean get launched into the atmosphere through sea spray bubbles. They found that plastic particles smaller than 10 micrometers can become airborne this way, with smaller and less dense particles being emitted more easily. This reveals an important but underappreciated pathway by which ocean plastic pollution can reach inland areas and be inhaled by people.
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This study used bottom-up modeling to estimate how microplastics move between the ocean surface and the atmosphere at a global scale. The findings suggest ocean surfaces are both a source and sink for airborne microplastics, helping explain how plastics cycle through Earth's major environmental systems.
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Ocean waves and sea foam can fling tiny plastic particles from seawater into the air we breathe, and this study shows that how much gets released depends on the plastic's size, shape, and even whether it's been weathered or coated in ocean grime. This matters because it means microplastics floating out at sea aren't staying put, they can travel through the air, potentially reaching our lungs and remote environments far from the coast, making this an important piece of the puzzle for understanding our real-world exposure to plastic pollution.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.