Papers

20 results
|
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2023-1025

This comment paper examines the atmospheric transport of microplastics as particulate matter, comparing it to the well-studied transport of mineral dust. Understanding how air currents carry microplastics to remote environments helps explain their ubiquitous presence even in pristine ecosystems far from human activity.

2023
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2023-1025

This comment discusses a study on atmospheric transport of microplastics, noting that the mechanisms that move microplastics through the air differ importantly from those for mineral dust. Better understanding these transport pathways is essential for accurately predicting where airborne microplastics deposit globally.

2023
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2025-605

Researchers examined the atmospheric transport of microplastics, focusing on how their settling behavior — determined by physical properties including size and shape — governs the dispersion of large microplastic particles through the atmosphere and their deposition across environments.

2025
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Current Pollution Reports 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2025-1575

Researchers developed a representation of airborne microplastics within the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1.1), adding both fragment and fibre types across multiple aerosol size modes that interact with existing deposition and ageing processes. Simulated microplastics showed higher concentrations over land but were transported to remote regions including Antarctica, highlighting their potential air quality and climate relevance.

2025
Article Tier 2

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.

2020 C&EN Global Enterprise 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2025-1821

This is a peer review comment on an atmospheric microplastics preprint examining source profiles and emission factors for plastic-derived particles from various pollution sources, contributing to the open review process for the manuscript.

2025
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric Microplastics: Inputs and Outputs

Researchers examined how microplastics enter and move through the atmosphere, finding that up to 8.6 megatons per year may be suspended in air above the oceans alone. The particles are launched into the air from ocean spray and land-based sources, then distributed by wind before returning to Earth through rain and dry deposition. The study highlights that atmospheric transport is a major pathway for spreading microplastic contamination to even the most remote regions of the planet.

2025 Preprints.org 2 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2025-1575

This review examines a global climate model implementation of airborne microplastics as an atmospheric aerosol species, addressing their absence from current climate models despite recognized air quality and climate impacts. The comment evaluates the modeling approach for representing microplastic transport, deposition, and radiative effects in the atmosphere.

2025
Review Tier 2

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.

2022 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 12 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Environmental Science & Technology 96 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2020 Sustainability 113 citations
Article Tier 2

Importance of atmospheric transport for microplastics deposited in remote areas

This study highlights atmospheric transport as a significant and underappreciated pathway for depositing micro- and nanoplastics in remote areas including mountain regions and polar zones far from plastic sources. Airborne plastic particles can travel thousands of kilometers before being deposited, explaining the presence of microplastics in seemingly pristine remote environments.

2019 Environmental Pollution 317 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions

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.

2020 Nature Communications 1008 citations
Article Tier 2

Comment on egusphere-2025-1821

This is a peer review comment on an atmospheric microplastics preprint studying MP emission sources, contributing to the open peer review process for the study.

2025
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Research Square (Research Square) 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Modelling the Potential Long-Range Dispersion of Atmospheric Microplastics Reaching a Remote Site

Researchers used the Lagrangian particle dispersion model MILORD in backward mode to investigate long-range atmospheric transport of microplastics reaching a remote site, identifying potential source areas for airborne microplastics. The study demonstrates that long-range transport contributes significantly to microplastic deposition at locations far from plastic sources.

2023 Atmospheric Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the atmosphere: transportation and impact on humans

This chapter reviews the origins, atmospheric transport, distribution, and characterization of airborne microplastics. The authors note that microplastics have been detected in urban, suburban, and remote regions, raising the possibility of long-distance atmospheric transport. The study highlights significant knowledge gaps about the global distribution and health risks of airborne microplastics due to limitations in detection technologies and sampling methods.

2024 Microplastics 2 citations