Knowledge about the spread of microplastics in the atmosphere is still limited. But one thing seems clear: microplastic fibers stay in the air much longer than expected – and fly particularly high.
The transport of microplastics via rivers to the oceans has been relatively well studied, while the transport of these potential environmental pollutants through the atmosphere still raises many questions.
Researchers from the University of Vienna and Germany recently showed in the journal ‘Environmental Science & Technology’ how the shape of the particles determines flight distances: microplastic fibers remain in the air considerably longer than expected and fly particularly high.
Knowledge about the distribution of microplastics in the atmosphere is still limited, the team led by Daria Tatsii and Andreas Stohl from the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics of the University of Vienna writes in their study.
Wind and rivers play a central role as transport routes
As part of an initial model calculation of the global spread of microplastics via road traffic by wind in 2020, Stohl was able to demonstrate that this transport route plays a central role – in addition to the spread of microplastics via rivers.
However, with currently existing calculation models it is not possible to understand how the particles – including the particles that are already very large for atmospheric transport with a length of about 1 millimeter and often have a fibrous shape – in such remote areas because it Arctic and Antarctic can be deposited in the Sonnblick glaciers.
‘But there is no other way than to transport them through the atmosphere.’ But in the atmosphere itself, the particles, along with desert dust, all kinds of air pollution and other aerosols, are difficult to detect.
Microplastic fibers fly far through the atmosphere
Previous calculation models also assumed absolutely round particles. Using their newly developed approach, the researchers were now able to demonstrate that microplastic fibers are transported much further through the atmosphere than previously believed. While spherical particles settle relatively quickly, microplastic fibers can also reach the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
According to the meteorologist, the finding that microplastic fibers can reach much higher altitudes in the atmosphere than previously thought could also have an impact “on the processes of cloud formation and even on the ozone in the stratosphere.” However, further research is still needed to investigate the influence of microplastics on the atmosphere.
Source: Krone
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