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Exponential decrease of airborne microplastics: From megacity to open ocean
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Researchers measured atmospheric microplastics across the western Pacific Ocean and found concentrations decreased exponentially with distance from megacity sources, confirming that atmospheric transport is a major pathway for microplastics entering the open ocean.
Atmospheric transport has been recognized as an important route for microplastics (MPs) entering the ocean since the early 2019s, yet little data of their distribution patterns in marine air are currently available. In this study, we conducted continuous measurements of atmospheric MPs in the marine boundary layer across the western Pacific Ocean. Results suggested that synthetic MPs comprised 25.89 % of all identified particles, with the most being cotton and cellulose (51.68 %). Research revealed that atmospheric synthetic microfibers (22.54 %) are higher than the proportion of the surface oceanic synthetic microfibers (8.20 %) in the recent study. Further, the size of airborne MP fibers over open ocean is probably not the limiting factor during long-range transport. The mean abundance of atmospheric MPs over the western Pacific Ocean during sampling period was 0.841 ± 0.698 items/100 m. Regression analysis revealed an exponential relationship between average MP abundance and average longitude of sampled stations, and the average abundance of airborne MPs in coastal megacity is three orders of magnitude higher than that in sampled marine air of western Pacific. This study provides a better understanding on the impact of atmospheric transport of MPs within the global plastic cycle.
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Researchers developed an atmospheric transport model for microplastics over Asia, estimating annual emissions of 310 gigagrams and finding that atmospheric transport efficiently carries microplastics from land sources to remote ocean regions across the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Atmospheric microplastics in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean: Distribution, source, and deposition
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Researchers documented atmospheric microplastic distribution in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, finding abundances ranging from 0.0046 to higher levels and identifying sources and deposition patterns that contribute to marine microplastic pollution from airborne transport.
Atmospheric microplastics over ocean: abundance, distribution and transport
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This conference contribution presents research on atmospheric microplastics over the open ocean, based on three transoceanic surveys covering the Pacific and Atlantic. Atmospheric transport is an important pathway for microplastics to reach even remote ocean areas far from land-based sources. The work quantifies how much plastic is deposited from air to ocean across different ocean basins.
Consistent Transport of Terrestrial Microplastics to the Ocean through Atmosphere
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Suspended atmospheric microplastics (SAMPs) were measured during a Pacific Ocean research cruise for the first time, finding median concentrations of 0.01 particles/m³ with fibers (60%) as the dominant form and microplastic composition matching terrestrial rather than marine sources. The study provides direct evidence of consistent atmospheric transport of land-derived microplastics to the open ocean.
High debit sampling of airborne micro and nanoplastics in remote sea
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Researchers developed a high-volume air sampler to detect micro- and nanoplastics in remote marine environments far from populated coastlines. The study confirms that plastic particles are transported through the atmosphere to even isolated ocean regions, demonstrating that no environment is free from airborne plastic pollution.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.