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Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions
Nature Communications2020
1008 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 50
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Henrik Grythe,
Henrik Grythe,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Henrik Grythe,
Henrik Grythe,
Susana López-Aparicio,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Susana López-Aparicio,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Henrik Grythe,
A. Stohl
Zbigniew Klimont,
Zbigniew Klimont,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
C. Heyes,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Sabine Eckhardt,
C. Heyes,
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Sabine Eckhardt,
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Zbigniew Klimont,
Zbigniew Klimont,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Sabine Eckhardt,
Susana López-Aparicio,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Susana López-Aparicio,
Sabine Eckhardt,
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
A. Stohl
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Nikolaos Evangeliou,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
Sabine Eckhardt,
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
A. Stohl
Summary
Using global atmospheric transport simulations, researchers modeled the dispersal of tire wear particles and brake dust from roads, finding that atmospheric transport is a major — and previously underestimated — pathway delivering microplastics to remote regions far from traffic sources.
In recent years, marine, freshwater and terrestrial pollution with microplastics has been discussed extensively, whereas atmospheric microplastic transport has been largely overlooked. Here, we present global simulations of atmospheric transport of microplastic particles produced by road traffic (TWPs - tire wear particles and BWPs - brake wear particles), a major source that can be quantified relatively well. We find a high transport efficiencies of these particles to remote regions. About 34% of the emitted coarse TWPs and 30% of the emitted coarse BWPs (100 kt yr and 40 kt yr respectively) were deposited in the World Ocean. These amounts are of similar magnitude as the total estimated direct and riverine transport of TWPs and fibres to the ocean (64 kt yr). We suggest that the Arctic may be a particularly sensitive receptor region, where the light-absorbing properties of TWPs and BWPs may also cause accelerated warming and melting of the cryosphere.