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Atmospheric microplastics: A review on current status and perspectives

Earth-Science Reviews 2020 1243 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 60 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Shichang Kang, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Shichang Kang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Mika Sillanpää, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Steve Allen Shichang Kang, Deonie Allen, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Steve Allen Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Deonie Allen, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Yulan Zhang, Mika Sillanpää, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Mika Sillanpää, Mika Sillanpää, Mika Sillanpää, Mika Sillanpää, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Yulan Zhang, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Mika Sillanpää, Mika Sillanpää, Deonie Allen, Shichang Kang, Tanguang Gao, Mika Sillanpää, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Steve Allen Steve Allen Mika Sillanpää, Deonie Allen, Mika Sillanpää, Tanguang Gao, Mika Sillanpää, Steve Allen Steve Allen Steve Allen Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Deonie Allen, Mika Sillanpää, Steve Allen Steve Allen Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Yulan Zhang, Deonie Allen, Mika Sillanpää, Tanguang Gao, Mika Sillanpää, Tanguang Gao, Tanguang Gao, Steve Allen Steve Allen Mika Sillanpää, Steve Allen Deonie Allen, Steve Allen

Summary

This review summarizes current knowledge about microplastics detected in the atmosphere of urban, suburban, and remote areas around the world. Researchers found that airborne microplastic concentrations vary by one to three orders of magnitude across different locations, with fibers and fragments being the most common shapes. The study highlights the need for standardized sampling methods and further research to understand how atmospheric microplastics affect human health.

Microplastics have recently been detected in the atmosphere of urban, suburban, and even remote areas far away from source regions of microplastics, suggesting the potential long-distance atmospheric transport for microplastics. There still exist questions regarding the occurrence, fate, transport, and effect of atmospheric microplastics. These questions arise due to limited physical analysis and understanding of atmospheric microplastic pollution in conjunction with a lack of standardized sampling and identification methods. This paper reviews the current status of knowledge on atmospheric microplastics, the methods for sample collection, analysis and detection. We review and compare the methods used in the previous studies and provide recommendations for atmospheric microplastic sampling and measurement. Furthermore, we summarize the findings related to atmospheric microplastic characteristics, including abundance, size, shapes, colours, and polymer types. Microplastics occur in the atmosphere from urban to remote areas, with an abundance/deposition spanning 1–3 orders of magnitude across different sites. Fibres and fragments are the most frequently reported shapes and the types of plastic which generally aligns with world plastic demand. We conclude that atmospheric microplastics require further research and greater understanding to identify its global distributions and potential exposure to human health through further field sampling and implementation of standardized analytical protocols.

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