Exploring the Transport Path of Oceanic Microplastics in the Atmosphere
- Autor(en)
- Silvia Bucci, Lucie Bakels, Camille Richon
- Abstrakt
Microplastics (MP) have been recognized as an emerging atmospheric pollutant, yet uncertainties persist in their emissions and concentrations. With a bottom-up approach, we estimate 6-hourly MP fluxes at the ocean-atmosphere interface, using as an input the monthly ocean surface MP concentrations simulated by the global oceanic model (NEMO/PISCES-PLASTIC, Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean, Pelagic Interaction Scheme for Carbon and Ecosystem Studies), a size distribution estimate for the MP in the micrometer range, and a sea salt emission scheme. The atmospheric dispersion is then simulated with the Lagrangian model FLEXPART. We identify hotspot sources in the tropical regions and highlight the seasonal variability of emissions, atmospheric concentrations, and deposition fluxes both on land and ocean surfaces. Due to the variability of MP concentration during the year, the MP flux from the sea surface appears to follow a seasonality opposite to that of sea salt aerosol emissions. The comparison with existing observations of MP in the marine atmosphere suggests an underestimation of one to 2 orders of magnitude in our current knowledge of the MP in the oceans’ surface. In addition, we show that the MP in the micrometer range is transported efficiently around the globe and can penetrate and linger in the stratosphere over time scales of months. The interaction of these particles with the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere is still mostly unknown and deserves to be further investigated.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik
- Externe Organisation(en)
- Universität Wien
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Band
- 58
- Seiten
- 14338-14347
- Anzahl der Seiten
- 10
- ISSN
- 0013-936X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c03216
- Publikationsdatum
- 07-2024
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 105208 Atmosphärenchemie
- Schlagwörter
- ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
- Allgemeine Umweltwissenschaft, Allgemeine Chemie, Environmental Chemistry
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/9cd998c8-0a89-4bf5-83e2-18b011e3a4e6