Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions
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 (TW...
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ftnilu:oai:nilu.brage.unit.no:11250/2670700 2023-07-30T04:01:41+02:00 Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions Evangeliou, Nikolaos Grythe, Henrik Klimont, Zbigniew Heyes, Chris Eckhardt, Sabine Lopez-Aparicio, Susana Stohl, Andreas 2020 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670700 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 eng eng Norges forskningsråd: 275407 NILU - Norsk institutt for luftforskning: 118063 Nature Communications. 2020, 11, 3381. urn:issn:2041-1723 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670700 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 cristin:1821400 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © The Author(s) 2020 11 Nature Communications Peer reviewed Journal article 2020 ftnilu https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 2023-07-08T19:54:11Z 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. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research: NILU Brage Arctic Nature Communications 11 1 |
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NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research: NILU Brage |
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English |
description |
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. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Evangeliou, Nikolaos Grythe, Henrik Klimont, Zbigniew Heyes, Chris Eckhardt, Sabine Lopez-Aparicio, Susana Stohl, Andreas |
spellingShingle |
Evangeliou, Nikolaos Grythe, Henrik Klimont, Zbigniew Heyes, Chris Eckhardt, Sabine Lopez-Aparicio, Susana Stohl, Andreas Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
author_facet |
Evangeliou, Nikolaos Grythe, Henrik Klimont, Zbigniew Heyes, Chris Eckhardt, Sabine Lopez-Aparicio, Susana Stohl, Andreas |
author_sort |
Evangeliou, Nikolaos |
title |
Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
title_short |
Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
title_full |
Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
title_fullStr |
Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
title_sort |
atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670700 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
11 Nature Communications |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 275407 NILU - Norsk institutt for luftforskning: 118063 Nature Communications. 2020, 11, 3381. urn:issn:2041-1723 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2670700 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 cristin:1821400 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © The Author(s) 2020 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1772812459959123968 |