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Long-range transport of atmospheric microplastics deposited onto glacier in southeast Tibetan Plateau

Environmental Pollution 2022 73 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Ling Yang, Ling Yang, Yulan Zhang, Ling Yang, Zhaoqing Wang, Ling Yang, Ling Yang, Ling Yang, Ling Yang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Xi Luo, Yulan Zhang, Xi Luo, Yulan Zhang, Xi Luo, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Xi Luo, Shichang Kang, Xi Luo, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Pengfei Chen, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Xi Luo, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Ling Yang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Xi Luo, Zhaoqing Wang, Xi Luo, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Junming Guo, Yulan Zhang, Ling Yang, Ling Yang, Tanguang Gao, Ling Yang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Xi Luo, Xi Luo, Xi Luo, Xi Luo, Xi Luo, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Zhaoqing Wang, Junming Guo, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Pengfei Chen, Xi Luo, Zhaoqing Wang, Pengfei Chen, Junming Guo, Pengfei Chen, Xi Luo, Junming Guo, Junming Guo, Junming Guo, Junming Guo, Zhaoqing Wang, Tanguang Gao, Ling Yang, Xi Luo, Xi Luo, Tanguang Gao, Pengfei Chen, Zhaofu Hu, Zhaofu Hu Zhaofu Hu Zhaofu Hu Chengde Yang, Zhaofu Hu, Zhaofu Hu, Zhengzheng Yang, Zhaofu Hu Zhaofu Hu, Zhengzheng Yang, Chengde Yang, Chengde Yang, Tanguang Gao, Yulan Zhang, Zhengzheng Yang, Pengfei Chen, Zhengzheng Yang, Zhengzheng Yang, Zhengzheng Yang, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Zhaofu Hu, Zhaofu Hu

Summary

Researchers analyzed microplastics in snowpit samples from Demula glacier in the southeast Tibetan Plateau, finding an average of 9.55 particles per liter with seasonal variation showing higher concentrations during the monsoon season. Backward trajectory modeling indicated the particles originated from long-range atmospheric transport from South and East Asian sources, and meltwater exports were estimated at 5.9 to 6.6 times 10 to the 11 particles per year.

Micoroplastics (MPs) can be transported through atmospheric circulations, and have caused global attentions due to their potential risk to the environment. In this study, MPs in snowpit samples collected from Demula (DML) glacier in southeast Tibetan Plateau were investigated. The results showed that the average abundance of MPs in snow was 9.55 ± 0.9 items L, with dominant shapes of plastic fibers and films. MPs size was dominated by MPs <200 μm, with detected minimum size of 48 μm from the DML glacier. MPs in snowpit indicated seasonal variations, showing relatively higher abundance during the monsoon season than that during the non-monsoon season. The chemical composition of MPs and backward air mass trajectory modeling revealed that MPs in DML snowpit mostly originated from the atmospheric long-range transport, suggesting the glacier in southeast Tibetan Plateau can be a temporal sink of atmospheric MPs. The surface structure of the MPs was rough and adhered to a large amount of mineral dust and metallic particles, revealed that these MPs have undergone severe weathering during transportation and after deposition. Based on the MPs data, multi-year average precipitation, and glacier mass balance of DML glacier, the deposition flux of MPs on DML glacier was estimated to be about 7640 ± 720 to 9550 ± 900 items m yr and the export from melting water was about 5.9 ± 1.3 × 10 to 6.6 ± 1.4 × 10 items yr, indicating the glacier may be also an important source of MPs to the downstream ecosystems. These results provided the current status of MPs pollution on the Tibetan Plateau glaciers and new data to the study of MPs in typical cryospheric regions.

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