Institute of Coastal Environmental Pollution Control, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, and College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Eco-environmental Science and Technology, Marine Bioresource and Environment Research Center, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Qingdao 266061, China.
Key Laboratory of Marine Eco-environmental Science and Technology, Marine Bioresource and Environment Research Center, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory of Marine Drugs and Bioproducts, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jul 10;829:154337. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154337. Epub 2022 Mar 5.
Microplastic pollution is recognized as a ubiquitous global issue. However, limited information is available concerning microplastics in the marine air. Here we present the occurrence and distribution of atmospheric microplastics in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, with abundance ranging from 0.0046 to 0.064 items/m. The microplastics were in various shapes and polymer types, of which fibrous rayon (67%) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET, 23%) accounted for the majority. The atmospheric microplastics in the pelagic area showed higher abundance and smaller size compared to those in the nearshore area, indicating smaller-sized microplastics in the atmosphere might travel long distances over the ocean. The atmospheric microplastic distribution was not only affected by weather conditions but might also be related to the microplastic sources. The microplastic polymer types combined with the backward trajectory model analysis showed that atmospheric microplastics in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean mainly originated from the land and the adjacent oceanic atmosphere. Spearman's correlation coefficient of the relationship between the features of microplastics in the atmosphere and surface seawater tended to increase with increasing offshore distances. Our field-based research revealed that atmospheric microplastics were a non-negligible source of marine microplastic pollution.
微塑料污染被认为是一个普遍存在的全球性问题。然而，关于海洋空气中的微塑料，我们的了解还很有限。在这里，我们介绍了西北太平洋大气中微塑料的出现和分布情况，其丰度范围为 0.0046 至 0.064 个/米。这些微塑料形状各异，聚合物类型也不同，其中纤维状人造丝（67%）和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET，23%）占大多数。与近岸地区相比，开阔海域大气中的微塑料丰度更高，粒径更小，这表明大气中粒径较小的微塑料可能在海洋上远距离传播。大气微塑料的分布不仅受天气条件的影响，还可能与微塑料的来源有关。微塑料聚合物类型与后向轨迹模型分析相结合表明，西北太平洋大气中的微塑料主要来源于陆地和临近海域大气。大气中微塑料特征与海面海水之间的关系的斯皮尔曼相关系数随着离岸距离的增加而增加。我们的实地研究表明，大气中的微塑料是海洋微塑料污染的一个不可忽视的来源。
