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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Atmospheric Microplastics: Inputs and Outputs
ClearAtmospheric Microplastics: Inputs and Outputs
This review describes how microplastics move between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere, with an estimated 8.6 megatons per year floating in the air above oceans alone. Clothing fibers are the biggest contributor to outdoor airborne microplastics, while indoor sources include furniture fabrics, ventilation systems, and human movement. The findings are significant because airborne microplastics can travel thousands of kilometers and are inhaled daily, making air a major but understudied route of human exposure.
Exploring the Transport Path of Oceanic Microplastics in the Atmosphere
Researchers used computer modeling to estimate how microplastics are launched from the ocean surface into the atmosphere and transported around the globe. They identified tropical ocean regions as major emission hotspots and found that tiny plastic particles can travel efficiently through the atmosphere and even reach the stratosphere, where they may linger for months. The study suggests that current estimates of ocean surface microplastic concentrations may be one to two orders of magnitude too low.
Efficient Atmospheric Transport of Microplastics over Asia and Adjacent Oceans
Researchers developed an atmospheric transport model for microplastics over Asia, estimating annual emissions of 310 gigagrams and finding that atmospheric transport efficiently carries microplastics from land sources to remote ocean regions across the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Microplastics ride the atmosphere
Research confirms that microplastic particles are transported through the atmosphere over long distances, depositing in remote areas including the Arctic and high mountains. Atmospheric transport is now recognized as a major pathway spreading microplastic contamination to virtually every part of the planet.
A Review of Atmospheric Micro/Nanoplastics: Insights into Source and Fate for Modelling Studies
This review synthesizes current knowledge about how micro- and nanoplastics move through the atmosphere, covering their sources, transport mechanisms, and eventual deposition. Researchers found that atmospheric transport can carry these particles over long distances quickly, making it a major pathway for global plastic pollution spread. The study identifies key knowledge gaps needed for developing accurate models of airborne microplastic behavior.
Is atmospheric pathway a significant contributor to microplastics in the marine environment?
Researchers reviewed evidence for atmospheric transport of microplastics to and from marine environments, finding that wind-driven processes like sand storms, bubble bursts, and sea spray can eject microplastics from ocean surfaces into aerosols, making the atmosphere a significant but understudied pathway in the marine microplastic cycle.
Global microplastic emission and deposition fluxes at the ocean-atmosphere interface
This study used bottom-up modeling to estimate how microplastics move between the ocean surface and the atmosphere at a global scale. The findings suggest ocean surfaces are both a source and sink for airborne microplastics, helping explain how plastics cycle through Earth's major environmental systems.
Atmospheric microplastic emissions from land and ocean
Researchers quantified atmospheric microplastic emissions from both land and ocean surfaces, finding that re-suspension of deposited plastics from land and sea spray from the ocean are significant sources of airborne particles. The results highlight that the ocean is not just a sink but also a source of airborne microplastics.
Examination of the ocean as a source for atmospheric microplastics
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.
Global Modeling of Microplastics in the Atmosphere
Researchers modeled global atmospheric microplastics and estimated that over 100 kilotons of particles are suspended in the air at any time, with adults worldwide inhaling up to 1.5 billion microplastic particles per year, and even remote regions like Antarctica receiving significant deposition.
Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem
This review examined atmospheric micro- and nanoplastic pollution, synthesizing evidence that plastic particles are suspended, transported, and deposited globally through atmospheric pathways, concluding that air represents a major but understudied route of human exposure and environmental dispersal requiring integration into plastic pollution models.
Distribution and transport of atmospheric microplastics and the environmental impacts: A review
This review examines the distribution, transport, and environmental impacts of atmospheric microplastics, synthesizing evidence that airborne plastics are found globally from urban centers to remote polar regions. The authors identify deposition via precipitation as a major pathway by which atmospheric microplastics contaminate soil and water surfaces.
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere
Researchers detected airborne microplastic particles — including polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene — in aerosol samples collected over the remote North Atlantic Ocean far from land. Back trajectory analysis and matching polymer types in both air and seawater suggest the ocean surface itself is a source of airborne microplastics, with true particle counts likely higher than detected since only particles above 5 micrometers were analyzed.
Exponential decrease of airborne microplastics: From megacity to open ocean
Researchers measured atmospheric microplastics across the western Pacific Ocean and found concentrations decreased exponentially with distance from megacity sources, confirming that atmospheric transport is a major pathway for microplastics entering the open ocean.
Atmospheric microplastics in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean: Distribution, source, and deposition
Researchers documented atmospheric microplastic distribution in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, finding abundances ranging from 0.0046 to higher levels and identifying sources and deposition patterns that contribute to marine microplastic pollution from airborne transport.
Microplastics in the Atmosphere: A Global Perspective
This global modeling study found that atmospheric microplastic sources are dominated by land-based transport rather than ocean emissions, challenging earlier assumptions and suggesting that road traffic and other terrestrial activities are the primary drivers of microplastic particle distribution in the atmosphere.
Global atmospheric distribution of microplastics with evidence of low oceanic emissions
This study used atmospheric modeling to estimate the global distribution of airborne microplastics, finding that land-based sources like roads, agriculture, and cities contribute far more to atmospheric microplastics than ocean emissions. The model, validated against real-world observations, suggests that ocean contributions are about 10,000 times lower than previously estimated. Understanding where airborne microplastics come from is important because inhalation is a major route of human exposure.
The Peril of Plastics: Atmospheric Microplastics in Outdoor, Indoor, and Remote Environments
This review surveys the current state of knowledge about microplastics suspended in the atmosphere, covering outdoor, indoor, and remote environments. Researchers found that airborne microplastics are far more widespread than previously recognized, with fibers from textiles and vehicle tire wear being major sources. The study highlights that atmospheric transport can carry microplastics to even the most remote locations on Earth, and that inhaling these particles poses potential health concerns.
Atmospheric Microplastic Transport
This review examines atmospheric transport of microplastics, covering emission sources including roads and oceans, the meteorological and particle-characteristic factors influencing transport and deposition, and the cycles by which microplastics are redistributed to remote environments including high-altitude and polar regions.
Various Perspectives on Occurrence, Sources, Measurement Techniques, Transport, and Insights Into Future Scope for Research of Atmospheric Microplastics
This review synthesized current knowledge on atmospheric microplastics, covering their sources, occurrence across global regions, measurement techniques, and transport mechanisms, while identifying key research gaps for future investigation.
Ocean emission of microplastic
Researchers built a model showing that ocean waves and bursting bubbles can launch microplastics from seawater into the air, estimating that roughly 0.1 million metric tons of microplastic may be emitted from the ocean surface each year. These airborne microplastics can then be carried by wind over land, where they may be inhaled by people. The study reveals an important and previously underappreciated pathway by which ocean microplastic pollution becomes an air quality and human health concern.
Sources and fate of atmospheric microplastics revealed from inverse and dispersion modelling: From global emissions to deposition
Researchers combined atmospheric observations and inverse modeling to estimate global microplastic emissions at 9.6 megatons per year, then used dispersion modeling to trace sources and deposition patterns from emissions to atmospheric fallout worldwide.
Atmospheric microplastic over the South China Sea and East Indian Ocean: abundance, distribution and source
Researchers measured atmospheric microplastic abundance across 21 transects from coastal China to the East Indian Ocean and found that concentrations near the Pearl River Estuary were ten times higher than over the open ocean, with backward trajectory modeling suggesting long-range atmospheric transport exceeding 1,000 km but indicating that atmospheric deposition is unlikely to be the primary source of oceanic microplastic contamination.
New insights into the long-term dynamics and deposition-suspension distribution of atmospheric microplastics in an urban area
Researchers tracked airborne microplastics in a city over a full year and found an average of 302 particles per square meter per day falling from the sky, with people potentially inhaling up to 12,777 particles per year. The microplastics came from sources up to 1,750 kilometers away, including traffic, industry, and textiles. This study highlights that breathing is a significant route of microplastic exposure for humans, even for people living far from obvious pollution sources.