Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere
The deposition of airborne microplastic particles, including those exceeding 1000 μm in the longest dimension, has been observed in the most remote places on earth. However, their deposition patterns are difficult to reproduce using current atmospheric transport models. These models usually treat pa...
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2024
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ftpubman:oai:pure.mpg.de:item_3562063 2024-02-11T10:01:25+01:00 Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere Tatsii, D. Bucci, S. Bhowmick, T. Güttler, J. Bakels, L. Bagheri, G. Stohl, A. 2024-01-09 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4D-B http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4F-9 eng eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/675675 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c08209 http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4D-B http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4F-9 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Environmental Science & Technology info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2024 ftpubman https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08209 2024-01-22T00:47:33Z The deposition of airborne microplastic particles, including those exceeding 1000 μm in the longest dimension, has been observed in the most remote places on earth. However, their deposition patterns are difficult to reproduce using current atmospheric transport models. These models usually treat particles as perfect spheres, whereas the real shapes of microplastic particles are often far from spherical. Such particles experience lower settling velocities compared to volume equivalent spheres, leading to longer atmospheric transport. Here, we present novel laboratory experiments on the gravitational settling of microplastic fibers in air and find that their settling velocities are reduced by up to 76% compared to those of the spheres of the same volume. An atmospheric transport model constrained with the experimental data shows that shape-corrected settling velocities significantly increase the horizontal and vertical transport of particles. Our model results show that microplastic fibers of about 1 mm length emitted in populated areas are more likely to reach extremely remote regions of the globe, including the high Arctic, which is not the case for spheres of equivalent volume. We also calculate that fibers with lengths of up to 100 μm settle slowly enough to be lifted high into the stratosphere, where degradation by ultraviolet radiation may release chlorine and bromine, thus potentially damaging the stratospheric ozone layer. These findings suggest that the growing environmental burden and still increasing emissions of plastic pose multiple threats to life on earth. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe Arctic Environmental Science & Technology 58 1 671 682 |
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Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe |
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ftpubman |
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English |
description |
The deposition of airborne microplastic particles, including those exceeding 1000 μm in the longest dimension, has been observed in the most remote places on earth. However, their deposition patterns are difficult to reproduce using current atmospheric transport models. These models usually treat particles as perfect spheres, whereas the real shapes of microplastic particles are often far from spherical. Such particles experience lower settling velocities compared to volume equivalent spheres, leading to longer atmospheric transport. Here, we present novel laboratory experiments on the gravitational settling of microplastic fibers in air and find that their settling velocities are reduced by up to 76% compared to those of the spheres of the same volume. An atmospheric transport model constrained with the experimental data shows that shape-corrected settling velocities significantly increase the horizontal and vertical transport of particles. Our model results show that microplastic fibers of about 1 mm length emitted in populated areas are more likely to reach extremely remote regions of the globe, including the high Arctic, which is not the case for spheres of equivalent volume. We also calculate that fibers with lengths of up to 100 μm settle slowly enough to be lifted high into the stratosphere, where degradation by ultraviolet radiation may release chlorine and bromine, thus potentially damaging the stratospheric ozone layer. These findings suggest that the growing environmental burden and still increasing emissions of plastic pose multiple threats to life on earth. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tatsii, D. Bucci, S. Bhowmick, T. Güttler, J. Bakels, L. Bagheri, G. Stohl, A. |
spellingShingle |
Tatsii, D. Bucci, S. Bhowmick, T. Güttler, J. Bakels, L. Bagheri, G. Stohl, A. Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
author_facet |
Tatsii, D. Bucci, S. Bhowmick, T. Güttler, J. Bakels, L. Bagheri, G. Stohl, A. |
author_sort |
Tatsii, D. |
title |
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
title_short |
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
title_full |
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
title_fullStr |
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere |
title_sort |
shape matters: long-range transport of microplastic fibers in the atmosphere |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4D-B http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4F-9 |
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Arctic |
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Arctic |
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Arctic |
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Arctic |
op_source |
Environmental Science & Technology |
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info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/675675 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c08209 http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4D-B http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-3B4F-9 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08209 |
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Environmental Science & Technology |
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58 |
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1 |
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