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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.
Microplastics are now recognized as widespread contaminants in the atmosphere, where, due to their small size and low density, they can be transported with winds around the Earth. Atmospheric aerosols, such as mineral dust and other types of airborne particulate matter, influence Earth's climate by absorbing and scattering radiation (direct radiative effects) and their impacts are commonly quantified with the effective radiative forcing (ERF) metric. However, the radiative effects of airborne microplastics and associated implications for global climate are unknown. Here we present calculations of the optical properties and direct radiative effects of airborne microplastics (excluding aerosol-cloud interactions). The ERF of airborne microplastics is computed to be 0.044 ± 0.399 milliwatts per square metre in the present-day atmosphere assuming a uniform surface concentration of 1 microplastic particle per cubic metre and a vertical distribution up to 10 kilometres altitude. However, there are large uncertainties in the geographical and vertical distribution of microplastics. Assuming that they are confined to the boundary layer, shortwave effects dominate and the microplastic ERF is approximately -0.746 ± 0.553 milliwatts per square metre. Compared with the total ERF due to aerosol-radiation interactions (-0.71 to -0.14 watts per square metre), the microplastic ERF is small. However, plastic production has increased rapidly over the past 70 years; without serious attempts to overhaul plastic production and waste-management practices, the abundance and ERF of airborne microplastics will continue to increase.
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