Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Communications Earth & Environment Année : 2020

Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere

Miri Trainic
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1117210
J Michel Flores
Iddo Pinkas
Guillaume Bourdin
  • Fonction : Auteur
Emmanuel Boss
Yinon Rudich
Assaf Vardi
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1117211
Ilan Koren
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 852290

Résumé

Anthropogenic pollution from marine microplastic particles is a growing concern, both as a source of toxic compounds, and because they can transport pathogens and other pollutants. Airborne microplastic particles were previously observed over terrestrial and coastal locations, but not in the remote ocean. Here, we collected ambient aerosol samples in the North Atlantic Ocean, including the remote marine atmosphere, during the Tara Pacific expedition in May-June 2016, and chemically characterized them using micro-Raman spectroscopy. We detected a range of airborne microplastics, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and poly-silicone compounds. Polyethylene and polypropylene were also found in seawater, suggesting local production of airborne microplastic particles. Terminal velocity estimations and back trajectory analysis support this conclusion. For technical reasons, only particles larger than 5 µm, at the upper end of a typical marine atmospheric size distribution, were analyzed, suggesting that our analyses underestimate the presence of airborne microplastic particles in the remote marine atmosphere.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
s43247-020-00061-y.pdf (2 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-03434730 , version 1 (18-11-2021)

Licence

Paternité

Identifiants

Citer

Miri Trainic, J Michel Flores, Iddo Pinkas, Maria Luiza Pedrotti, Fabien Lombard, et al.. Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere. Communications Earth & Environment, 2020, 1, ⟨10.1038/s43247-020-00061-y⟩. ⟨hal-03434730⟩
118 Consultations
73 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More