Tiny Plastic Particles From the Atmosphere Is Contaminating Planet’s Oceans

In a research study, an international group of researchers investigates the atmosphere as a pertinent source of plastic pollution in our globe’s waters.

According to estimates, by 2040, plastic pollution could get to 80 million metric tons (176 billion pounds) annually. Plastic particles have now been found in virtually all circles of the environment, e.g., in water bodies, the soil, and the air.

The tiny plastic particles can also get to the Arctic, Antarctic, or ocean depths via ocean currents and rivers. Brand-new overview research has shown that wind, too, can transport these particles great distances– and much faster than water can: in the atmosphere, they can journey from their point of origin to the most distant corners of the planet in a few days.

Increasing water pollution

In the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, an international group of scientists clarifies how microplastic locates its way into the atmosphere and how it is consequently transported. This group included experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, and also the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel.

Today, anywhere between 0.013 and 25 million metric tons of micro and nanoplastic annually are transported as much as thousands of kilometers by ocean air, snow, sea spray, and fog, going across countries, continents, and oceans.

This estimation was reached by an international group of 33 researchers, including experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam (IASS), and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel.

” Air is a far more dynamic medium than water,” claims co-author Dr. Melanie Bergmann from the AWI. “Therefore, micro and nanoplastic can far more rapidly penetrate those regions of our planet that are most remote and still largely untouched.”

Once there, the particles might impact the surface climate and the health of local ecosystems. When these darker particles settle on snow and ice, they affect the ice-albedo feedback, minimizing their ability to reflect sunlight and promote melting.

Darker patches of seawater absorb more solar energy, warming the ocean even further. Furthermore, in the atmosphere, microplastic particles can function as condensation nuclei for water vapor, generating effects on cloud formation and, on the long run, the climate.

How do plastic particles reach into the atmosphere?

First off, via human activities. Particles made by tires and brakes in road traffic or by the exhaust gases from industrial processes ascend into the atmosphere, where winds transport them. According to the overview research study, evidence indicates that the marine environment carries a significant number of these particles.

Initial analyses show that microplastic from the coastal zone additionally finds its way into the sea through eroded beach sand. The mix of sea spray, wind, and waves forms air bubbles in the water having microplastic. When the bubbles burst, the particles find their way right into the atmosphere. As so, transport to remote and even polar regions could be because of the mixture of atmospheric and marine transport.

Consequently, it is imperative to comprehend interactions between the atmosphere and sea to determine which particle dimensions are carried and in which amounts. The atmosphere mostly carries small microplastic particles, making it a much faster transport route that can result in significant deposits in a wide range of ecosystems.

As Melanie Bergmann clarifies: “We need to incorporate micro and nanoplastic in our air pollution measurements, preferably on an international scale as part of global networks.” For this intention, in a first step, first authors Deonie Allen and Bergmann began gathering samples of microplastic in the air, seawater, and ice during a Polarstern expedition to the Arctic last year.

Joining forces to understand the microplastic cycle

Understanding and characterizing the microplastic cycles between the ocean and atmosphere will certainly require joint efforts. In this regard, the study’s team of scientists led by first authors Deonie Allen and Steve Allen from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, details a global strategy for creating a seamless, intercomparable database on the flow of micro and nanoplastic in between the ocean and atmosphere.

“There are numerous aspects of the exhausts, transport, and effects of microplastic in the atmosphere that we still do not thoroughly understand,” states co-author Prof Tim Butler from the IASS. “This publication reveals the gaps in our knowledge– as well as presents a roadmap for the future.”

Two dedicated working groups from the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) prepared the research. According to study co-author and GESAMP member Prof Sylvia Sander from GEOMAR: “The study clarifies that an extensive understanding of the ocean, and the effects of human forces on it, can just be accomplished by networking scientists and their data.

The significant hurdles of our time are on a global scale. Appropriately, we have to search for answers to pressing questions with expertise that is as comprehensive and international as possible. That can only be done by collaborating.”

GESAMP is a conglomerate of eleven organizations belonging to the United Nations. Its goal is to get to a multidisciplinary, science-based understanding of the marine environment. To date, the network has currently teamed up with more than 500 experts from nations around the world on a range of questions.

Tiny plastics’ effect on human health

Micro- and nanoplastic in the air is also important for human health. In a recently published British research study, microplastic was discovered in the lungs of 11 of 13 living human beings. “This is yet an additional reason why we require incorporating plastic right into monitoring programs for air quality,” Bergmann stresses.

In order to lower environmental pollution from plastic, the production of new plastic would also need to be successively minimized based on an international treaty, as Bergmann and other experts recently called for in a letter to the journal Science.

Read the original article on Scitech Daily.

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