Consistent Transport of Terrestrial Microplastics to the Ocean through Atmosphere

Although atmospheric transport and deposition could be an important pathway of terrestrial pollutants to the ocean, little information concerning the presence and distribution of these suspended atmospheric microplastics in marine air is available. We investigated, for the first time, the occurrence and distribution of suspended atmospheric microplastics (SAMPs) in the west Pacific Ocean. In this study, the spatial distribution, morphological appearance, and chemical composition of suspended atmospheric microplastics were studied through continuous sampling during a cruise. SAMPs abundance ranged from 0 to 1.37 n/m3, the median of 0.01 n/m3. Fiber, fragment, and granule SAMPs quantitively constituted 60%, 31%,…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Award: 41676190
• MO
  Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

  Award: 2016YFC1402205
• EC
  East China Normal University

  Award: YBNLTS2019-007