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Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, marine, freshwater and terrestrial pollution with microplastics has been discussed extensively, whereas atmospheric microplastic transport has been largely overlooked. Here, we present global simulations of atmospheric transport of microplastic particles produced by road traffic (TWPs - tire wear particles and BWPs - brake wear particles), a major source that can be quantified relatively well. We find a high transport efficiencies of these particles to remote regions. About 34% of the emitted coarse TWPs and 30% of the emitted coarse BWPs (100?kt?yr^-1 and 40?kt?yr^-1 respectively) were deposited in the World Ocean. These amounts are of similar magnitude as the total estimated direct and riverine transport of TWPs and fibres to the ocean (64?kt?yr^-1). We suggest that the Arctic may be a particularly sensitive receptor region, where the light-absorbing properties of TWPs and BWPs may also cause accelerated warming and melting of the cryosphere.

SUBMITTER: Evangeliou N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7360784 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions.

Evangeliou N N Grythe H H Klimont Z Z Heyes C C Eckhardt S S Lopez-Aparicio S S Stohl A A

Nature communications 20200714 1

In recent years, marine, freshwater and terrestrial pollution with microplastics has been discussed extensively, whereas atmospheric microplastic transport has been largely overlooked. Here, we present global simulations of atmospheric transport of microplastic particles produced by road traffic (TWPs - tire wear particles and BWPs - brake wear particles), a major source that can be quantified relatively well. We find a high transport efficiencies of these particles to remote regions. About 34% ...[more]

PMID: 32665541

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