Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere
Abstract Anthropogenic pollution from marine microplastic particles is a growing concern, both as a source of toxic compounds, and because they can transport pathogens and other pollutants. Airborne microplastic particles were previously observed over terrestrial and coastal locations, but not in th...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y |
id |
crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crspringernat:10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y 2023-05-15T17:32:55+02:00 Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere Trainic, Miri Flores, J. Michel Pinkas, Iddo Pedrotti, Maria Luiza Lombard, Fabien Bourdin, Guillaume Gorsky, Gabriel Boss, Emmanuel Rudich, Yinon Vardi, Assaf Koren, Ilan 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Communications Earth & Environment volume 1, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y 2022-01-04T07:45:52Z Abstract Anthropogenic pollution from marine microplastic particles is a growing concern, both as a source of toxic compounds, and because they can transport pathogens and other pollutants. Airborne microplastic particles were previously observed over terrestrial and coastal locations, but not in the remote ocean. Here, we collected ambient aerosol samples in the North Atlantic Ocean, including the remote marine atmosphere, during the Tara Pacific expedition in May-June 2016, and chemically characterized them using micro-Raman spectroscopy. We detected a range of airborne microplastics, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and poly-silicone compounds. Polyethylene and polypropylene were also found in seawater, suggesting local production of airborne microplastic particles. Terminal velocity estimations and back trajectory analysis support this conclusion. For technical reasons, only particles larger than 5 µm, at the upper end of a typical marine atmospheric size distribution, were analyzed, suggesting that our analyses underestimate the presence of airborne microplastic particles in the remote marine atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Pacific Communications Earth & Environment 1 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science Trainic, Miri Flores, J. Michel Pinkas, Iddo Pedrotti, Maria Luiza Lombard, Fabien Bourdin, Guillaume Gorsky, Gabriel Boss, Emmanuel Rudich, Yinon Vardi, Assaf Koren, Ilan Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Abstract Anthropogenic pollution from marine microplastic particles is a growing concern, both as a source of toxic compounds, and because they can transport pathogens and other pollutants. Airborne microplastic particles were previously observed over terrestrial and coastal locations, but not in the remote ocean. Here, we collected ambient aerosol samples in the North Atlantic Ocean, including the remote marine atmosphere, during the Tara Pacific expedition in May-June 2016, and chemically characterized them using micro-Raman spectroscopy. We detected a range of airborne microplastics, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and poly-silicone compounds. Polyethylene and polypropylene were also found in seawater, suggesting local production of airborne microplastic particles. Terminal velocity estimations and back trajectory analysis support this conclusion. For technical reasons, only particles larger than 5 µm, at the upper end of a typical marine atmospheric size distribution, were analyzed, suggesting that our analyses underestimate the presence of airborne microplastic particles in the remote marine atmosphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Trainic, Miri Flores, J. Michel Pinkas, Iddo Pedrotti, Maria Luiza Lombard, Fabien Bourdin, Guillaume Gorsky, Gabriel Boss, Emmanuel Rudich, Yinon Vardi, Assaf Koren, Ilan |
author_facet |
Trainic, Miri Flores, J. Michel Pinkas, Iddo Pedrotti, Maria Luiza Lombard, Fabien Bourdin, Guillaume Gorsky, Gabriel Boss, Emmanuel Rudich, Yinon Vardi, Assaf Koren, Ilan |
author_sort |
Trainic, Miri |
title |
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
title_short |
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
title_full |
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
title_fullStr |
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
title_sort |
airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00061-y |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Communications Earth & Environment volume 1, issue 1 ISSN 2662-4435 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766131244118048768 |