Examination of the ocean as a source for atmospheric microplastics
PLoS ONE2020
444 citations
?
Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 50
?
0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Deonie Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Kerry Moss,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Deonie Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Deonie Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Deonie Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Steve Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Kerry Moss,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Vernon R. Phoenix,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Gaël, Le Roux
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Jeroen E., Sonke,
Steve Allen,
Steve Allen,
Deonie Allen,
Steve Allen,
Gaël, Le Roux
Summary
Researchers assessed whether the ocean can be a net source of atmospheric microplastics (rather than just a sink), finding evidence that bubble bursting and sea spray can eject plastic particles from ocean surface waters into the atmosphere.
Study Type
Environmental
Global plastic litter pollution has been increasing alongside demand since plastic products gained commercial popularity in the 1930's. Current plastic pollutant research has generally assumed that once plastics enter the ocean they are there to stay, retained permanently within the ocean currents, biota or sediment until eventual deposition on the sea floor or become washed up onto the beach. In contrast to this, we suggest it appears that some plastic particles could be leaving the sea and entering the atmosphere along with sea salt, bacteria, virus' and algae. This occurs via the process of bubble burst ejection and wave action, for example from strong wind or sea state turbulence. In this manuscript we review evidence from the existing literature which is relevant to this theory and follow this with a pilot study which analyses microplastics (MP) in sea spray. Here we show first evidence of MP particles, analysed by μRaman, in marine boundary layer air samples on the French Atlantic coast during both onshore (average of 2.9MP/m3) and offshore (average of 9.6MP/m3) winds. Notably, during sampling, the convergence of sea breeze meant our samples were dominated by sea spray, increasing our capacity to sample MPs if they were released from the sea. Our results indicate a potential for MPs to be released from the marine environment into the atmosphere by sea-spray giving a globally extrapolated figure of 136000 ton/yr blowing on shore.