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Micro- and nanoplastics transfer from seawater to the atmosphere through aerosolization under controlled laboratory conditions
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Using a laboratory wave-action tank, researchers demonstrated that polystyrene beads of 0.5-10 microns are efficiently aerosolized from seawater into spray aerosols, with enrichment factors of up to 19-fold for 0.5 micron particles, confirming sea spray as a vector for micro- and nanoplastic atmospheric transport.
Sea spray has been suggested to enable the transfer of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) from the ocean to the atmosphere, but only a few studies support the role of sea spray aerosols (SSAs) as a source of airborne particles. We demonstrated that MNPs are aerosolized during wave action, via SSAs, under controlled laboratory conditions. We used a mini-Marine-Aerosol-Reference-Tank (miniMART), a device that mimics naturally occurring physical mechanisms producing SSAs, and assessed the aerosolization of fluorescent polystyrene beads (0.5-10 μm), in artificial seawater. The SSAs contained up to 18,809 particles/mL of aerosols for 0.5 μm beads, with an enrichment factor of 19-fold, and 1977 particles/mL of aerosols for 10 μm beads with a 2-fold enrichment factor. Our study demonstrates that the use of the miniMART is essential to assess MNPs aerosolization in a standardized way, supporting the hypothesis which states that MNPs in the surface of the ocean may be transferred to the atmosphere.
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Researchers conducted controlled laboratory experiments to study how microplastics are transferred from ocean water to the atmosphere through the formation of sea spray aerosols. Understanding this aerosolization pathway is important for quantifying how much microplastic reaches the atmosphere from ocean surfaces and ultimately falls on land or other ocean areas far from original sources.
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Researchers quantified the transfer of microplastics from seawater to sea spray aerosols in laboratory experiments, finding enrichment factors up to 24,000-fold depending on particle size. Their bottom-up emission estimate suggests the oceans emit 24 quintillion microplastic pieces per year but are unlikely to be a significant source of atmospheric microplastics relative to land-based sources.
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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.