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Microplastics in Our Oceans May Inhibit Aerosols From Cooling the Atmosphere
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This study hypothesises that microplastics at the ocean surface may inhibit the formation of sea spray aerosols — tiny droplets that play a major role in cooling the atmosphere by scattering solar radiation. If confirmed, widespread microplastic contamination of the ocean surface could have indirect effects on global climate regulation.
Sea spray aerosol (SSA) are liquid gaseous particles emitted directly from the ocean, making their way into the atmosphere. It is hypothesized that SSA enters the atmosphere from mechanical processes such as wind and ocean waves. Winds and waves promote bubble formation and these bubbles which make their way onto the ocean surface. After these wave-created bubbles rise to the ocean surface, the bubble ruptures and water evaporates which causes gaseous drops to be released into the air: this is the main source of SSA. SSA matter is known to affect Earth’s climate, by scattering light energy and solar radiation from the surrounding environment. They can also affect global temperature levels because they aid in cloud formation. With Earth’s waters covering about three-fourths of the planet’s surface area, SSA is crucial for managing Earth’s radiation budget. Their important environmental role may be blunted due to an ominous problem: ocean pollution. Microplastics in our oceans affect how and if aerosols form. This study goes into detail of how microplastics affect SSA formation and its implications. This experiment utilizes ocean movement laboratory simulations to measure SSA generation in the presence of various microplastics. The data suggests that larger microplastics have a greater, more significant effect on reducing aerosol production than finer, powdery plastics.
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This study examined what happens when nanoplastics become incorporated into sea spray aerosols — the tiny droplets that burst into the air when waves break — finding that nanoplastics alter the structure and composition of the lipid films that coat these airborne droplets. Since these lipid layers influence how aerosols behave chemically in the atmosphere, nanoplastics could be subtly changing atmospheric chemistry and cloud formation in ocean regions. This is a relatively unexplored pathway by which plastic pollution may have broader environmental consequences beyond the ocean surface.
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This interdisciplinary review examines how atmospheric microplastics — because of their unique physical and chemical properties — interact with aerosol processes differently from natural particles such as dust and sea spray, with implications for cloud formation, radiative forcing, and global circulation patterns. The authors synthesize current understanding of how microplastic aerosols may influence climate dynamics and call for their integration into climate modeling frameworks.
A Review of the Effects of Marine (Micro)plastics on Climate Factors
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This Korean-language paper reviews how marine microplastics affect climate-related variables, a topic much less studied than their ecological impacts. Researchers found that microplastics in the ocean absorb solar radiation and alter the sea surface microlayer, potentially raising sea surface temperatures and affecting cloud formation and precipitation.
Microplastics transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere through aerosolization: insights under controlled laboratory conditions
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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.
Direct radiative effects of airborne microplastics
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Researchers calculated for the first time how airborne microplastics might affect Earth's climate by absorbing and scattering sunlight, similar to dust particles. At current levels, the climate effect is small compared to other air pollutants, but plastic production has been growing rapidly for decades. As more microplastics accumulate in the atmosphere, their influence on climate could become more significant over time.
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